FDA approves vaccine

Johnson&Johnson has received approval for emergency use of its vaccine in the US, with the advantages of single-dose administration and standard storage requirements.

Johnson&Johnson received official US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval on Saturday for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine within the country.

Shares in Johnson&Johnson, up almost 14% in the past 12 months, were up 3.52% before trading opened on Monday.

J&J earlier said it plans to deliver 20 million doses of its vaccine by the end of March from a government contract to deliver 100 million doses by the end of June.

Although Pfizer and BioNTech as well as Moderna are ahead of J&J in starting deliveries of coronavirus vaccines, J&J's vaccine has an advantage over them as it creates high immunity against coronavirus when administered once, without requiring repeat vaccination. The level of protection of the J&J vaccine varied by region: the average efficacy was 66%, among those tested in the USA the efficacy was 72%, 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa. However, after about a month, the effectiveness of the vaccine in South Africa had risen to 64%.

According to a press release from J&J, its vaccine proved effective against the new, more infectious strain of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.351 coronavirus that is prevalent in South Africa.

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had 95% and 94% efficacy, respectively, but these data did not include testing of the new coronavirus strains. These companies are currently conducting further research.

According to the company, the J&J vaccine prevented 100% of hospital admissions and deaths among 43,783 test participants aged 18 and over, and met the FDA's minimum requirement of 50% vaccine efficacy. Johnson&Johnson executives have previously stated that the company will not make any money from the vaccines during a pandemic, they will be made available "on a non-commercial basis for emergency use".

J&J could profit from vaccines against COVID-19 if such vaccination is included in the annual mandatory vaccination calendar in the US and other countries.