India approves J & J COVID-19 vaccine

Online desk: : India on Saturday granted approval for emergency use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to further boost the country’s collective efforts against coronavirus.

“India expands its vaccine basket! Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is given approval for Emergency Use in India. Now India has 5 EUA vaccines,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted this afternoon.

The shot will be brought to India through a supply agreement with homegrown vaccine maker Biological E Limited.

With the latest approval of Johnson & Johnson’s candidate, India has now granted Emergency Use Approval (EUA) to five Covid-19 vaccines to fight the pandemic that claimed more than 4.27 lakh lives and infected nearly 3.19 crore people in India so far.

John & Johnson, the US pharmaceuticals giant had applied to the Central Drug Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on August 5 seeking emergency use approval (EUA) for its single-shot vaccine on August 5.

According to a statement of the company, it made the EUA submission based on “top line” efficacy and safety data from the Phase-3 ENSEMBLE clinical trial.

The trials showed that the single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was 85% effective in preventing severe cases of coronavirus disease across all the regions that were studied.

India has so far administered the Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik-V vaccines. Mumbai-based pharmaceuticals company Cipla has also been granted approval to import the Moderna vaccine, which has shown 95 per cent efficacy against the coronavirus disease.

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage achieved a significant milestone as more than 50 crore people across the country have been vaccinated so far.