To avoid expiration, US extended shelf life of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine

US laboratory Johnson & Johnson announced Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized an extension of the shelf life of its COVID-19 vaccine from three months to four and a half months.

The news comes when millions of single-dose vaccines, which are stored in refrigerators, were at risk of expiring and being thrown away. “The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies”the company said in a statement.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 21 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across the United States, but only 11 million have been administered.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine warned this week that 200,000 The doses in your state will expire on June 23.

While not as effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 as the messenger RNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, J & J’s vaccine, based on adenoviral vector technology, It was found to be 85% effective in preventing severe forms of the disease in a large study.

This figure rose to 100% 28 days after the injection. The fact that the vaccine only required a single dose was a key selling point for targeting hard-to-reach populations.

However, the acceptance has been significantly reduced after US officials suspended the drug for ten days in April for reasons of security.

Authorities believe the J&J vaccine carries an increased risk of developing a rare but serious type of blood clotting that mainly occurs in women between the ages of 18 and 49. The condition, characterized by a low level of platelets, is called Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (TVI).

The United States now has a large stock of excess doses, highlighting the growing disparity of vaccines between rich and poor countries.

President Joe Biden, seeking to regain global leadership on the pandemic, announced on Wednesday that the United States will purchase and donate 500 million doses of Pfizer vaccine for the rest of the world.

With information from AFP

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