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The COVID-19 vaccine candidate under development by Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
The Janssen Pharmaceutica subsidiary could obtain emergency clearance from UK regulators within weeks, boosting the country’s mass vaccination program amid an outbreak of coronavirus cases.
John Bell, regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford and adviser to the UK Vaccine Task Force, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘My prediction is that it will work well, although we have to wait for the results of the test.”
He added: “I think they will have supplies for the UK in a period of time that would just allow them to hit the mid-February target of increasing the numbers. I think this may well have a material impact on what we can do in the UK to get more people vaccinated.
Opinion: There is only a slim chance the vaccine will stop the COVID pandemic this year
A spokesperson for Janssen said it would be premature for the company to comment on its vaccine production until it received the results of its ongoing Phase 3 clinical study, which is scheduled for later this month. -this.
“Janssen will continue to work closely with the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] to complete the ongoing review process of a national marketing authorization application in the UK and committed to making an affordable COVID-19 vaccine to the public on a not-for-profit basis for use in the event of an emergency pandemic, ”added the spokesperson.
If the data indicates that the vaccine is safe and effective, J&J plans to submit an emergency use authorization application to the United States Food and Drug Administration in February.
The British government has ordered 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine, with the possibility of purchasing 22 million more. The vaccine candidate is a single dose vaccine, unlike those developed by the biotech Moderna MRNA,
and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer PFE,
and its German partner BioNTech BNTX,
It can also be safely stored and transported at standard refrigerator temperatures, while the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine requires storage at minus 70 ° C.
If Janssen’s vaccine candidate is cleared by UK regulators, it would become the third vaccine to be widely deployed in the country after the Pfizer vaccine – BioNTech and the one developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca AZN,
with the University of Oxford, and would help speed up the mass vaccination campaign for the public.
More than 1.3 million people in the UK have already received an injection of the Pfizer – BioNTech vaccine or the AstraZeneca – Oxford vaccine, according to the government. He wants 13 million of the UK’s most vulnerable people to be vaccinated by mid-February, a goal England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty has called “realistic, but not easy. “.
Lily: UK becomes first country to deploy AstraZeneca vaccine – Oxford as tighter lockdowns loom
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Wednesday that there was now a race “to vaccinate vulnerable people faster than the virus can reach them”.
“Every needle in every arm makes a difference,” Johnson told lawmakers.
Another 1,041 people had died within 28 days after testing positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, government figures showed.
In a new attempt to boost the mass vaccination campaign, some general medicine surgeries will be allowed to administer the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine from Thursday, the National Health Service said.
Seven vaccination centers will be among many more sites coming online next week, along with other hospitals, GP-led services and a number of pharmacy-based vaccination pilot services, the NHS added.
Lily: Fauci reportedly said US will not lengthen vaccine dose interval
Last week, the MHRA, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization and four UK chief medical officers agreed to delay the gap between the first and second dose of vaccines, in a bid to protect the most large number of people in the shortest possible time.
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