One-shot jab is approved for UK
SCOTLAND’S vaccination programme received a major boost yesterday as a one-shot jab was approved for use in the UK.
Nicola Sturgeon welcomed the news the vaccine, developed by Janssen, has become the first which does not require people to go back for a second dose.
It is expected to be available towards the end of the year.
Drugs watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the vaccine has met the required standards for safety, quality and effectiveness.
A study of more than 39,000 volunteers found it is 67 per cent effective in preventing people developing Covid symptoms and 85 per cent effective against severe disease.
The single-shot jab could help to counter any third wave of coronavirus later this year, and England’s deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it
could also help vaccinate ‘hard-toreach’ groups, who vaccinators might otherwise struggle to get back for a second jab.
Approval of the vaccine from Janssen, an arm of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, was announced as the First Minister gave her coronavirus briefing yesterday.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘It’s really good news, any new vaccine, if it’s approved, manufactured and then we get supplies of it, is great.
‘But we’re focused right now on the supplies we actually have and getting them into people’s arms as quickly as possible.’
Scotland’s national clinical director Jason Leitch said ‘the more vaccines the better’, adding that the Valneva vaccine trials were progressing well.
The Valneva vaccine stock is being produced at a plant in Livingston, West Lothian.
However, Professor Leitch, said neither of these vaccines had been tested against the ‘April 02’ variant, which was first detected in India and is also known as B.1617.
The single-shot vaccine works similarly to the jab from Oxford University and AstraZeneca, and its rollout in the US was temporarily paused last month after reports of six cases of rare blood clots in women under the age of 60.
However, the European Medicines Agency concluded the vaccine’s benefits ‘outweigh the risks of side effects’, though some experts suspect clotting fears delayed its approval in the UK.
The Janssen vaccine can be kept at fridge temperatures, making it easy to roll out, and is being trialled in a study of potential booster vaccines.