Covid-19: U.S. authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine

The U.S. government has approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in order to enable more Americans to be vaccinated in the coming weeks. The J&J vaccine is a cost-effective alternative to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of a freezer.

Trials found it prevented serious illness but was 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included. The vaccine is made by the Belgian firm Janssen.

Medical trials revealed that the vaccine prevented serious illness but was 66% effective overall when moderate cases were included.

The united states of America is expected to receive 100 million doses by the end of June. The first doses could be available to the US public as early as next week. The UK, EU and Canada have also ordered doses, and 500 million doses have also been ordered through the Covax scheme to supply poorer nations.

So far, the United States has distributed more than 90million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, some of which have been used for second shots. COVID-19 has claimed more than half a million lives in the United States and states are clamoring for more doses to stem cases, hospitalisations, and deaths.

Public health officials have warned about a rise in the prevalence of more contagious variants of the virus, adding to the urgency to get millions more people vaccinated as quickly as possible.