Vials of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine
(Picture: AP)Johnson & Johnson’s one dose coronavirus vaccine has won approval from the European drugs regulator giving the bloc’s vaccine rollout a much-needed boost.
The European Medicines Agency said that it has recommended the jab for use by all adults on Thursday.
The EU Commission said authorisation for the vaccine will follow shortly.
The Johnson & Johnson jab is the fourth to be endorsed for use in the European Union after those from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.
However rollout of the J&J vaccine may not happen straight away as there have been issues with production.
The drugmaker was due to start deliveries to the EU in April and has promised to provide the bloc with 200 million doses but officials are now bracing for delays as the company has not provided a delivery schedule for the vaccine.
During the jab’s clinical trials the J&J vaccine protected all volunteers against hospitalisations and death from Covid-19.
The EU’s vaccine rollout has been plagued with delays, with only 4.96 per cent of Belgians and 5.5 per cent of Germans having one dose of a vaccine by the end of last week.
According to one estimate, if the rollout continues at its current pace Belgium wouldn’t reach the threshold of protecting 70 per cent of its population until July 2023.
The date calculated for Germany was September 2022.
Meanwhile in France, millions of people are reluctant to have the jab.
One poll suggested around half the adult population might refuse a vaccine.
Matters were not helped by the intervention of Emmanuel Macron, who claimed last month that the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab was “quasi-ineffective” for people over 65.
