Australia rules out adding J&J vaccine

CANBERRA: The Australian government said Tuesday it had decided against buying the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Coronavirus vaccine and identified a second case of a rare blood clot likely linked to the AstraZeneca shot.

The government had been in talks with the New Jerseybased pharmaceutical giant, which had asked the Australian regulator, Therapeutic Goods Administration, for provisional registration.

But Health Minister Greg Hunt ruled out a J&J contract because its vaccine was similar to the AstraZeneca product, which Australia had already contracted for 53.8 million doses.

Hunt said the government was following the advice of Australia's scientific and technical advisory group.