FDA panel gives Johnson & Johnson's one-shot COVID-19 vaccine green light
The next step is emergency use authorization by the FDA.
An advisory panel for the US Food and Drug Administration has recommended Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine be given the green light by the FDA. The FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee unanimously voted Friday afternoon to approve the vaccine.
The next step will be emergency approval from the FDA itself.
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In early February, a week after announcing that its single-dose vaccine was 66% effective overall in preventing COVID-19 in a global clinical trial, Johnson & Johnson submitted an application requesting the FDA grant emergency use authorization for the vaccine.
It would be the third vaccine on the US market, following the FDA granting emergency use authorization for the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines in December, with vaccinations beginning just days later. Those vaccines are said to be 95% and 94% effective, respectively. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine requires only a single shot.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced that the US is buying enough doses of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to cover 300 million people in the country by the end of July -- though this doesn't mean everyone will be vaccinated by then.
"We've now purchased enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all Americans," Biden said. Actually administering the vaccines to all Americans could take longer because vaccinations are managed at a state and local level.
Here's where to get a COVID-19 shot, and here's how to track how many vaccines are available in your state.
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