Medsafe considering Janssen vaccine
WELLINGTON: Medsafe met yesterday to consider whether to approve the singledose Janssen Covid19 vaccine for use in New Zealand.
If it is approved — a decision is expected tomorrow — up to 2 million doses will be available from July.
Janssen, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, applied for approval in December.
The vaccine will also need to be signed off by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), which approves the import, development and field testing or release of substances containing a new organism.
The EPA is working with Medsafe and the Ministry for Primary Industries in preparation for the vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson began delivering its vaccine to EU countries on Monday after some delays due to production issues, the company said.
Johnson & Johnson’s onedose Janssen vaccine will not be part of Australia’s vaccine rollout, at least for now, after the federal government confirmed it would not buy any doses.
The Australian Government said the Janssen vaccine was based on similar technology to its preferred AstraZeneca vaccine.
The vaccine is being widely used in the United States and has the advantage of only requiring one dose, unlike the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna alternatives which all require two doses.
A spokesman for Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said those similarities were the reason the federal government had decided against pursuing the option.
Under new advice, Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is the preferred option for Australians under 50 due to concerns over an extremely small number of cases of a rare blood clotting condition recorded in recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine. — RNZ
CANBERRA: Australia’s medicine regulator has identified a second case of rare blood clots believed to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration released a safety alert yesterday, announcing the possible link.
The blood clots affected a woman aged in her 40s who was vaccinated in Western Australia.
‘‘The person remains in hospital receiving treatment and is in a stable condition,’’ the regulator said.
The rare but potentially deadly bloodclotting disorder recently resulted in the AstraZeneca vaccine being no longer recommended to any Australians aged under 50, derailing the national vaccine rollout.
It is the second Australian report of a case of rare blood clots, after a 44yearold Melbourne man developed the condition following his AstraZeneca vaccination last month.
Expert advisers to the TGA have concluded the latest incident is similar to bloodclotting cases seen in Europe and the United Kingdom.
About 700,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines have been administered in Australia, so the two cases equate to a frequency of one in every 350,000 people.
The United Kingdom has found the overall risk of these rare blood clots was about one in 250,000 people who received the vaccine.
Ireland yesterday became the latest European country to restrict the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, recommending it only be given to those over 60, presenting a new challenge to the national vaccine rollout.
A European Medicines Agency investigation of blood clots in the brain reported by some people given the AstraZeneca vaccine has prompted an increasing number of European countries to change their recommendations on who should be given the shot.
A highly contagious variant of Covid19 first identified in Britain does not cause more severe disease in patients admitted to hospital, according to a new study published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases yesterday.
The strain, known as B.1.1.7, was identified in Britain late last year and has become the most common strain in the United States.
The researchers found no difference in risks of severe disease, death, or other clinical outcomes in patients with B.1.1.7 compared with other variants.