As expected, the European Medicines Agency has released the important fourth vaccine.
Europe will soon have access to a fourth vaccine. As the European Medicines Agency confirmed on Thursday, the vaccine from the US manufacturer Johnson & Johnson will be approved in the EU. The EU has already ordered 200 million vaccines with the option of a further 200 million that can be ordered at a later date. The EU Commission approved the vaccine a short time later.
One dose is enough
The vaccine from the US manufacturer is considered to be trend-setting in several ways to get the pandemic under control. Because unlike the already approved Biontech / Pfizer vaccine, which has to be stored at minus 70 degrees, the new vaccine can simply be stored in the refrigerator for months. Unlike the other vaccines, only one dose is enough, which is a huge advantage for the vaccination strategy.
Unlike Moderna and Pfizer, the J&J vaccine also scores with the fact that it is relatively cheap at $ 8.50 per dose. It is based on a similar vector technology as AstraZeneca. The genetic component of part of the coronavirus is smuggled into the human body with the help of a carrier virus. The immune system reacts to this by forming antibodies, which in turn are supposed to protect against infection or a severe corona course.
High protection against serious illnesses
Similar to AstraZeneca, the protection against getting corona at all is less high with 60 to 70 percent effectiveness than with Moderna and Pfizer / Biontech. At the same time, studies have shown that serious illnesses can be prevented by over 80 percent. Fatal courses of COVID-19 can be avoided by almost 100 percent with Johnson & Johnson, as with the other vaccines.
It remains to be seen how quickly the 200 million cans will actually find their way to EU countries. 55 million cans are expected to be delivered in the second quarter of this year. For Austria, 2.5 million cans are planned as part of EU procurement. Recently, however, there have been increasing fears that the company will not be able to deliver on time due to production bottlenecks.
