Coronavirus vaccination: USA approves third vaccine; FDA decides in favour of Johnson & Johnson

The United States of America has given emergency use approval to the third Coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, Associated Press reported. The one dose vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is expected to fasten the fight against Coronavirus pandemic and make it more effective. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after giving its approval is expecting the shipment of the first batch of the vaccine to reach different vaccination centres in the country and prove effective in stopping the spread of Coronavirus which has recently emerged in multiple mutations making it harder to control the pandemic.

The decision by the FDA came after day long discussions among the officials and health experts and it was eventually decided to give a go ahead to the vaccine as the vaccine’s benefits in fight against Covid outweighed the probable risks to the beneficiaries. So far more than 5 lakh Covid-19 related deaths have been reported in the world’s strongest and wealthiest nation. In addition to the recently sanctioned Johnson & Johnson vaccine, American residents are being vaccinated by two other Coronavirus vaccines which have been developed by Pfizer and Moderna.

About 14 percent of the American population has also been inoculated at least with one dose of the vaccines, AP reported. However, the pace of vaccination has slowed down in recent months due to demand gap and winter storms being experienced in many states in the country. The vaccine demand gap is understood to have been the major deciding factor behind the FDA decision taken on Friday as Johnson & Johnson has said that it can provide as many as 20 million vaccine doses by the end of March.

Other factors which might have gone in favour of the company is the hassle-free manner in which the vaccine can be stored in the refrigerator for as many as three months and one dose of vaccine claimed to be enough to ward off the worst effects of Coronavirus. However, the efficacy of the vaccine in comparison to the previous two vaccines falls short. While both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines two doses were 95 percent effective in warding off Coronavirus, the efficacy of the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson against Coronavirus is up to 66 percent. However, one should not forget that the single dose of the vaccine could make the job of vaccinating the huge American population far easier and hassle-free.