India Likely To Receive First Doses Of J&J Covid Vaccine In October: Reports

With the availability of Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, India will have a total of five vaccines which have been approved of emergency use to strengthen the vaccination drive in India.

Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

New Delhi: In a major boost to the ongoing vaccination drive in the country, India is likely to get its first doses of the Johnson & Johnson jab from October. It could only help facilitate the country to meet its target of vaccinating its entire adult population.

According to a report by news agency Reuters, a source privy to the development revealed that India could receive as many as 43.5 million doses of the single-shot vaccine in October. The drug will be packed and shipped in India by a partner of the US pharma major. This will help India achieve its target of producing more than 30 crore doses in October.

Earlier in August, Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose vaccine against Covid-19 got approval for emergency use. With the availability of J&J single-dose vaccine, India will have a total of five vaccines which have been approved of emergency use to strengthen the vaccination drive across the nation.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 81.85 crore with 96.46 lakh doses being given on Monday.

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.