Another vaccine in India's basket! J&J’s single-dose Covid vaccine gets approval for emergency use in India

New Delhi, August 07: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday announced that the Centre has approved US drug maker Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in India.

 

 

 

"Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine is given approval for Emergency Use in India. Now India has 5 EUA vaccines. This will further boost our nation's collective fight against COVID-19," Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet. So far, four vaccines have been given Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in India - AstraZeneca's Covid vaccineand Moderna.

 

Soon after which J&J issued a statement regarding this development. In the statement, J&J added that this is an important step forward in accelerating the availability of their Covid-19 vaccine to help end the pandemic.

 

“We are pleased to announce that on August 7, 2021, the Government of India issued Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 single-dose vaccine in India, to prevent Covid-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older," Johnson & Johnson's India spokesperson said in a statement.

 

 

This development has come 2 days after, Johnson & Johnson applied for Emergency Use Authorisation for its single-dose Covid vaccine in India. The US drug major claims that its vaccine, in clinical trials, proved to be 85 per cent effective in preventing severe disease. The vaccine also showed protection against the Delta variant and other emerging strains.

 

The Union Health Ministry on Friday announced that the country had administered over 50 crore vaccines so far. The ministry said 22,93,781 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years were administered the first dose, while 4,32,281 received the second dose of the vaccine on Friday.

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