California State Governor Gavin Newsom announced they expect more than 1.1 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine in the next three weeks after Johnson & Johnson recently received approval for its vaccine.
On Friday, a government advisory unanimously voted to approve the new vaccine. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine will only inject recipients with one shot and is for use on adults. In the next few days, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acting commissioner is expected to release emergency use authorization to the vaccine.
Third COVID-19 Vaccine
The pharmaceutical company has satisfactorily complied with all requirements the FDA implemented last year for the COVID-19 vaccine candidates. These include large-scale trials to test the efficacy of the treatment and that it is safe to use.
While the first two vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer required two doses to be effective, J&J only needs one. However, the trade-off is that it has a lower overall efficacy than the other vaccines, USA Today reported.
The company conducted a large trial over several months where they revealed the vaccine was 72% effective in the United States. However, they noted it had a reduced efficacy in South Africa and Latina America, where the new variants were quickly spreading. Newsom said California would receive about 380,300 doses of J&J’s vaccine as early as next week.