UK approves single-shot J&J Covid vaccine adding to British arsenal

The UK cleared a Covid-19 vaccine for use from Johnson & Johnson, the first single-dose shot to be authorized in Britain against the disease.

The country’s drug regulator gave the green light for the vaccine, the Department of Health and Social Care said Friday in a statement. The authorisation gives Britain a fourth shot in its arsenal, though its use may be initially limited given more than half the population has already received one vaccine dose.

The J&J shot has been watched closely as the only vaccine to reach advanced trials testing a single dose regimen. Britain co-funded the company’s global clinical studies and has bought 30 million doses of the shot. The US approved the vaccine at the end of February and the European Union followed suit in March.

Through the country’s vaccine task force, 20 million doses of the vaccine have been secured for the UK, with first deliveries are expected to arrive later this year, according to the statement.

Uptake of the shot has been impacted though after it was linked to very rare blood clots and use of the vaccine was temporarily paused in the US The European Medicines Agency confirmed in April there was a possible relationship but maintained that the benefits outweighed the risks. Similar clots have been linked to the AstraZeneca Plc Covid-19 vaccine, which is also an adenovirus-based shot.

J&J’s vaccine reported an efficacy rate of 66 per cent against moderate and severe Covid-19 in January, a number that was pulled down by the variant first identified in South Africa. In US trials the vaccine was found to be 72 per cent effective. It was 100 per cent effective in preventing hospitalization and death. The company is also testing a two-dose regimen of the shot.