US pharma firm Johnson & Johnson’s single shot vaccine is likely to be made available in India from as early as July, though it will be limited to a few thousand doses initially.
However, it is not likely to find many takers here as experts say that one dose of JJ shot will not be effective to deal with delta variants that are spreading fast in India. They said a booster dose will be needed to make it more effective.
The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson will likely be available in India in small quantities by July this year, sources said.
They said the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) is in the process of privately procuring the vaccine directly from the US-based manufacturer.
The one-shot vaccine will be priced at USD 25 in India.
Under the government’s new rules, vaccines approved by US drug regulator do not need to conduct bridging trials in India.
J&J had recently also started discussions with the country’s apex vaccine testing laboratory in Kasauli, the Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), through its Indian partner Biological E. With this, the vaccine is expected to be approved for use in India in the coming months.
One of the first single-shot coronavirus vaccines developed so far, J&J’s Janssen vaccine was cleared for emergency use in the US and most recently in the UK. According to the WHO, the vaccine’s efficacy is 66.3 per cent for mild to moderate Covid-19 and 76.3 per cent for severe to critical infections.