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By Lauran Neergaard and Matthew Perrone Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The United States receives a third vaccine to prevent COVID-19, as the Food and Drug Administration on Saturday authorized a Johnson & Johnson vaccine that works with one dose instead of two.
Health experts eagerly await a unique option to speed up vaccinations, as they race against a virus that has already killed more than 510,000 people in the United States and mutates in increasingly worrying ways.
The FDA said J & J’s vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death. One dose protected 85% against the most serious COVID-19 disease, in a massive study that spanned three continents – protection that has remained strong even in countries like South Africa, where the most worrying variants are spreading .
“The more high-potency vaccines we can put into play, the better,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, said before the FDA decision.
Shipments of a few million doses to be distributed among the states could begin as early as Monday. By the end of March, J&J announced that it plans to deliver 20 million doses to the United States and 100 million by the summer.
J&J is also seeking authorization for the emergency use of its vaccine in Europe and from the World Health Organization. Worldwide, the company aims to produce around 1 billion doses worldwide by the end of the year. The island nation of Bahrain became the first to allow its use on Thursday.
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The Associated Press’s Department of Health and Science receives support from the Department of Science Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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