Johnson & Johnson In Talks With Indian Govt For One-Shot Covid-19 Vaccine Trial

American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is in talks with the Indian government to commence clinical trials of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to attain emergency use authorization in the nation.

Reuters

This is according to a report by Reuters after it was revealed by the company in a statement today. This news comes at a time when several parts of the nation are experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 cases with various towns and cities entering lockdown again to curb the spread of novel coronavirus.

Also Read: Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Stops After Unknown Illness In Volunteer

A local J&J representative said in a statement to Reuters, ¡°We are in discussions with the (government) with the objective of starting a bridging clinical study of our Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate in India, subject to local regulatory approvals.¡±

The vaccine as of now is approved in a number of nations around the world including the United States, the European Union, Thailand, South Africa and others. But it can¡¯t just be allowed to roll out in India.

In case you didn't know, despite a vaccine being approved in other nations, it has to undergo a bridging study for testing the safety and immunogenicity of a vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson has already teamed up with Indian pharma company Biological E Ltd to contract-manufacture the vaccine in India.

Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine could be game-changing for India

As of now, the nation has only approved the use of two vaccines -- Covishied which is essentially the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine developed by Serum Institute and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech.

Reuters

While both the vaccines have proven their effectiveness against the novel coronavirus, both the vaccines require an individual to administer two doses of the vaccine at least 28 days apart and two weeks after the second dose, the vaccine is effectively armed to save the individual from the novel coronavirus. That¡¯s a long time frame.

Also Read: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Is 68% Effective On COVID-19 Strains, Seeks FDA Approval

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, however, despite its effectiveness of 68 percent, requires only one dose, which would allow more people to be vaccinated and safeguard against SARS CoV-2 in a shorter period of time -- something that could come in really handy, considering the population of the nation.