Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine has been given approval for emergency use in India, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted on Saturday, 7 August.
A single-dose vaccine, it's the fifth vaccine to be approved for use in India after Covishield, Covaxin, Moderna, and Sputnik V.
"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. This will further boost our nation's collective fight against #COVID19 (sic)," Mandaviya tweeted.
"We are pleased to announce that on 7th August 2021, the Government of India issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Johnson & Johnson #COVID19 single-dose vaccine in India, to prevent COVID in individuals 18 years of age and older," Johnson & Johnson India spokesperson was quoted by ANI as saying.
Johnson & Johnson had earlier said that its vaccine is 66 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 and was proven to be 72 percent effective against moderate and severe disease in the United States.
The vaccine, however, was found to be 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease across all regions studied, 28 days after vaccination in all adults, it said.
India's Biological E will produce the vaccine in the country, the company had announced on 18 May.
Effective Against Delta Variant
The company on 1 July had said that the vaccine is effective against the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the virus and that it produces strong neutralising antibodies in its recipients for at least eight months, providing protection against all variants of the coronavirus.
The vaccine dose reportedly neutralised the Delta variant within 29 days from the day of inoculation, and the degree of protection fostered improved over time according to a study conducted by them.
The data also showed that people vaccinated by the vaccine should not need a booster shot for at least a year after inoculation.
Hurdles in the US
On 14 April, after instances of severe blood clots surfaced among a handful of people who had received the jab, the United States health authorities had halted the vaccine.
The US then resumed the use of the vaccine on 23 April after an expert panel recommended lifting the pause as the vaccine benefits exceeded its dangers.
The vaccine was also halted in Europe over similar concers but was later resumed.
As per the data, 15 out of 3.9 million women who got the Johnson & Johnson shot developed serious blood clots and three of them had died. There were no reported cases among men.
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