US FDA okays J&J Covid jab

The US drugs regulator has granted emergency use authorisation to Johnson & Johnson’s singledose Covid-19 jab, making it the third vaccine in the country’s fight against the pandemic.

The other vaccines already in use are from Pfizer-biontech and Moderna, both needing two doses. J&J’S vaccine is also easier to store and transport as it doesn’t need to be kept frozen.

“The authorisation of this vaccine expands the availability of vaccines, the best medical prevention method for Covid-19, to help us in the fight against this pandemic, which has claimed over half a million lives in the United States,” said Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA said that overall, the vaccine is about 67% effective in preventing moderate to severe/ critical Covid-19 occurring at least 14 days after vaccination, and 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe/critical Covid-19 occurring at least 28 days after vaccination.

China, meanwhile, has given conditional market approval to the country’s first one-shot Covid-19 vaccine, state media reported, adding that 500 million people can be inoculated in a year. The vaccine was jointly developed by Cansino Biologics, a Tianjin-based private company, and the Institute of Military Medicine under the Academy of Military Sciences.

“The Chinese National Medical Products Administration granted conditional market approval to a recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine that requires only one shot,” Xinhua news agency reported.

Exactly a year after New Zealand recorded its first coronavirus case, the biggest city of Auckland woke up on Sunday to a second lockdown this month. The seven-day lockdown, announced late on Saturday by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was prompted by the case of a person who had been infectious for a week but not in isolation.