New Delhi: In a significant push to India's Covid vaccination drive, the Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine has been given approval for Emergency Use in India.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to his official Twitter handle to announce the major development and said, "India expands its vaccine basket! Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine is given approval for Emergency Use in India. Now India has 5 EUA vaccines. This will further boost our nation's collective fight against."
With this, now the country has 5 vaccines. Intill now, four Covid-19 vaccines, including Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik-V, and Moderna, were allowed for emergency use in the country.
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The American pharma company Johnson & Johnson had applied for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to the Government of India on Friday.
Last month, the vaccine maker had said its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine has shown promising signs of protection against the Delta variant rapidly spreading across the US and other countries.
The findings were confirmed after a small laboratory study, according to the company report where the vaccine exhibited strong, persistent activity against the new Delta and other highly prevalent SARS-CoV-2 viral variants.
According to media reports, the company is working with Biological E on the manufacturing of the J&J Covid-19 vaccine. NITI Aayog (Member) Health Dr. V.K. Paul in July said that the Indian government is in talks with the American pharma company Johnson & Johnson regarding their single-dose coronavirus vaccine and that the vaccine will be produced in Hyderabad’s Bio E.