WHO urges EU-Big Pharma unity; J&J seeks nod for jab
Johnson & Johnson seeks emergency use OK for its single-shot coronavirus vaccine in the United States
COPENHAGEN: A top World Health Organization (WHO) official appealed on Friday for European nations and Big Pharma to unite in the struggle to accelerate coronavirus inoculations, as Johnson & Johnson applied for emergency authorisation of its single-shot vaccine in the US.
Pressure is growing not only on wealthy nations to speed up their stuttering roll-outs, but also for a more equitable allocation of precious vaccine supplies to poorer countries, in a push to end a pandemic that has claimed close to 2.3 million lives.
Supply shortages and diplomatic bickering have marred the vaccine roll-outs in Europe, where just 2.5% of the population has received a first dose, with the production capacity at pharma plants a source of tension between the firms and the EU bosses. “We need to join up to speed up vaccinations,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told AFP. “Otherwise competing pharmaceutical companies (must) join efforts to drastically increase production capacity... that’s what we need.”
The milestone of 100 million administered doses was passed on Tuesday, but 65% of them were in countries the World Bank classifies as high-income.
J&J asked US regulators on Thursday for emergency use okay of its vaccine, which offers logistical advantages compared to the already approved PfizerBioNTech and Moderna shots because it does not require two doses or super-cold storage.
J&J has said it is on track to supply 100 million doses to the US if authorised, a major vaccine supply boost to the hardest-hit nation in the world. But trials have shown the J&J vaccine does not protect as well against a highly transmissible variant first identified in South Africa that is spreading around the world.