Talks moving ahead, J&J’s single-dose vaccine to be available soon: Govt

The J&J vaccine can be stored for two years at -20°C and for four-and-a-half months when stored between 2° to 8°C.

The single-dose Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is likely to soon be available in India.

V Paul, member, health, Niti Aayog, on Friday said talks with J&J were moving ahead and the discussions were on specific terms and contractual arrangement. After these are over, the vaccine will be available in the country.

As per the plan, the vaccine would be manufactured at the Hyderabad plant of Biological E, which has an agreement with J&J for manufacturing its vaccines in India.

This announcement comes on a day when J&J announced that their single-shot Covid-19 offered protection against the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus and the protection lasted for at least eight months. It further said the vaccine was 85% effective against severe and critical disease and offered protection against hospitalisation and death.

A J&J India spokesperson had on Tuesday expressed desire to accelerate the delivery of these vaccines to the people of India. As the vaccine has received Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in the US and Emergency Use listing by the WHO, the vaccine will not require any bridge trials in India.

The J&J vaccine can be stored for two years at -20°C and for four-and-a-half months when stored between 2° to 8°C.

This vaccine was not on the list of 216 crore vaccines expected to be available in India by December 2021.

Responding to the discrepancy in the 216 crore vaccine doses earlier estimated by the government and 135 crore doses number presented in the Supreme Court, Paul said this was an optimistic estimate based on production figures projected by the private sector vaccine makers. At this stage, the government had clear visibility of 90 crore vaccines from just the two main Indian manufacturers (Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech).

There will be 30 crore doses coming form Biological E, for which the government has made an advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore.

Zydus Cadila has confirmed the supply of 5 crore doses of its ZyCoV-D vaccine by December 2021. When approved, this will be the fifth Covid-19 vaccine to be available in India after Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik and Moderna, which has just been granted the import licence.