Johnson & Johnson's Single Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Approved In U.K.

(RTTNews) - The U.K.'s medicines regulator on Friday approved Johnson & Johnson's single dose vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older.

It is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be authorized by the UK's independent regulator and is the first to be approved for protection against COVID-19 with a single dose, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency or MHRA said in a statement.

The COVID-19 vaccine is developed by the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

There are three vaccines currently in use in U.K, these were developed by partnerships between BioNTech and Pfizer (Comirnaty), University of Oxford and AstraZeneca and by the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Moderna (MRNA-1273).

June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive, said," We have undertaken a thorough review of the conditional marketing authorisation application submitted by Janssen, including the information on quality, safety and effectiveness. I am pleased to confirm today that this authorisation has been granted."

Earlier this year, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was found to be 67% effective in preventing infections and 85% effective in preventing severe cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations.