The COVID-19 vaccine candidate being developed by Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutica could obtain an emergency permit from UK regulators within weeks, boosting the country’s massive immunization program amid a wave of coronavirus cases.
John Bell, regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford and advisor 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 study results.”
He added: “I think they will have supplies available to the UK in a timeframe that would make it possible to meet the mid-February target of increasing the numbers. I think it could have a material impact on what we can do in the UK to get more people vaccinated. “
Opinion: The vaccine is unlikely to stop the COVID pandemic this year
A Janssen spokesperson said it would be premature for the company to comment on its vaccine production until it receives the results of its ongoing phase 3 clinical trial, expected later this month.
Janssen will continue to work closely with the MHRA [Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] to complete the ongoing assessment process for a national application for a UK marketing authorization and is committed to bringing an affordable COVID-19 vaccine to the public on a non-profit basis for use in emergency situations, ”added the spokesperson added.
If the data indicates the vaccine is safe and effective, J&J expects to file an Emergency Use Authorization with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February.
The UK government has ordered 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine, with the option to purchase an additional 22 million. The vaccine candidate is a single dose injection, unlike that developed by 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 should be stored at -70 ° C.
If Janssen’s vaccine candidate is authorized by UK regulators, it would become the third vaccine to be widely rolled out in the country after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the one developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca AZN.
with the University of Oxford, and would help accelerate the push for mass vaccination of the public.
According to the government, more than 1.3 million people in the UK have already received one injection of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. It wants 13 million of the UK’s most vulnerable people to be vaccinated by mid-February, a goal UK Chief Medical Officer, Prof. Chris Whitty, has called “realistic but not easy”.
Read: Britain becomes first country to introduce AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine as tighter lockdowns imminent
Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Wednesday that there was now a race “to vaccinate the vulnerable faster than the virus can reach them.”
“Every needle in every arm makes a difference,” Johnson told lawmakers.
According to government figures, an additional 1,041 people had died within 28 days of a positive test for coronavirus.
In a further effort to spur the mass immunization push, some GPs will be allowed to administer the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine starting Thursday, according to the National Health Service.
Seven vaccination centers will be one of many other sites coming online next week, along with more hospitals, GP-run services and a number of pilot vaccine services for pharmacies, the NHS added.
Read: Fauci reportedly says the US will not extend the interval between vaccine doses
Last week, the MHRA, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization and four UK chief medical officers agreed to slow the gap between the first and second vaccination dose, in an effort to protect the greatest number of people in the shortest time possible.