The United Kingdom approved the use of single-shot Covid-19 vaccine by Johnson & Johnson, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced on May 28.
Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, said, “This is a further boost to the UK’s immensely successful vaccination programme that has already saved more than 13,000 lives, and indicates that now we have four safe and effective vaccines approved to prevent citizens from this awful virus.”
The UK government hopes the single-dose jab “will play a significant role in the months in the coming months,” attracting young people for their vaccinations amid concern over the increase of the Indian variant, Hancock added.
Britain has ordered 20 million doses of the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
In April, the EU Medicines Agency warned that unusual blood clots with low blood platelet count must be included in its product information following cases in the US and India.
As per a US trial, the vaccine by Johnson & Johnson has found to be 72% effective in preventing mild to severe coronavirus infection. Hence, the UK has administered over 62 million shots, primarily using the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. Moderna vaccine has also been approved for use.
Uk has vaccinated over 24 million of its entire population, while 2.36 lakh has got the first jab on May 26.
After months of cases slowing, infections have started to increase again because of the emergence of the Indian variant that has raised questions on the full reopening of the country on June 21.
With up to 75% of new UK cases found in Indian variant, Britain reported a total of 3,180 fresh Covid-19 cases and another ten people succumbed to the deadly virus in the last 24 hours. The UK has registered 44.8 lakh coronavirus cases as of May 29 and its death tally stands at 1.28 lakh.
