Johnson & Johnson has requested authorization for its vaccine …

The pharmaceutical company Johnson & johnson announced this Thursday that ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorization for emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine.

Today’s Submission for Emergency Use Authorization for our Experimental Single Injection Covid-19 Vaccine this is a crucial step in reducing the burden of disease on people around the world and ending the pandemic “Johnson & Johnson chief scientific officer Paul Stoffels said in a statement.

If the FDA decides to approve the vaccine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet to discuss whether the vaccine should be given to Americans and, in if so, who should receive it first.

If the petition is approved, it would be the third pharmaceutical company – after Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – to receive approval to distribute its vaccine in the United States. the country in the world with the most deaths due to Covid-19, with more than 450,800 deaths.

characteristics

The Johnson & Johnson vacuna, developed through collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutical and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, differs from other Covid-19 vaccines because given as a single dose. Pfizer and Moderna need two.

In addition, it is considered to be more versatile than the others because I know can be stored for three months at regular refrigerated temperatures and it doesn’t need freezers, like those from Pfizer or Sputnik V, which makes it easy to distribute.

In the latest phase 3 study it has been shown to be 66% effective overall and 85% effective in preventing severe forms of the disease. However, the effectiveness of the vaccine drops to 57% if it is the South African variant of the coronavirus.

The US government has already ordered 100 million doses and J&J assured it could meet this commitment in June. “Following the authorization of our investigational Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, we are ready to begin shipping the first batches,” Stoffels said.