A third vaccine in America … an emergency license and a dose



[ad_1]

Adopting it becoming the third vaccine in America, the pharmaceutical company “Johnson & Johnson” announced that it had asked the American health authorities to obtain an emergency license for its vaccine against Covid-19.

And if it gets the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration, this vaccine will be the third authorized in the United States, after the Pfizer-Bionic and Moderna vaccines.

This vaccine is particularly needed because it has two advantages which are logistically important, as it can be stored at normal refrigerant temperatures, which will greatly facilitate its distribution, and it is also administered to people with a single dose.

Critical station

“Today, Friday, we are ready to begin deliveries,” said Paul Stoffels, Scientific Director of Johnson & Johnson, describing the request submitted Thursday as “a critical step”.

Johnson & Johnson has provided the United States Food and Drug Administration, the country’s main federal public health agency, with what is known in the United States as an emergency use permit.

The FDA must now establish a vaccine advisory committee that will issue an opinion after reviewing clinical trial data. He will be responsible for determining whether the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks of its use.

This step took about three weeks for the Pfizer / Bionic Modern vaccine, but it may be faster this time around. Then the green light for the vaccine will have to be given, perhaps after the advisory committee has given its opinion.

66% efficient

Johnson & Johnson has pledged to ship 100 million doses of its vaccine to the United States by the end of June.

And the pharmaceutical giant announced at the end of last week the first results of its clinical trials which carried out approximately 44,000 people in eight countries.

The company said the vaccine was generally 66% effective, while the effectiveness increased to 85% in preventing severe symptoms of the virus.

A disturbing product

But these results also raised concerns, as the vaccine was more effective in the United States (72%) than in South Africa (57%), as a mutated version of the virus emerged in that country and became its main source. to a large extent.

Experts see it as an indication that any future mutated copy could end up bypassing the immune defenses developed by current vaccines. This is another reason, they believe, to speed up vaccination campaigns.

[ad_2]
Source link