Johnson & Johnson files for emergency approval of single-dose COVID vaccine

February 5, 2021

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Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson on Thursday filed for emergency authorization of its one-dose COVID-19 vaccine.

The company’s inoculation is 66 percent effective against moderate to severe cases of the deadly global pandemic, but it only requires a single dose and offers strong protection against hospitalization and death from the bug, Politico reported.

The J&J vaccine would add a vital third option — along with Pfizer and Moderna shots — as the US struggles to distribute vaccines against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 455,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the virus.

However, the J&J version has proved less effective against a more aggressive strain of the virus found in South Africa, the report said.

That strain, as well as a variant identified in the UK, has been detected in the US.

Nonetheless, the J&J vaccine provides a third line of defense.

“Upon authorization of our investigational COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, we are ready to begin shipping,” Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer, said in a statement. “We are working with great urgency to make our investigational vaccine available to the public as quickly as possible.”