By Adedapo Adesanya
A United States pharmaceutical company, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), is set to provide up to 400 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to African countries.
The US pharmaceutical giant on Monday said the availability of the single-shot vaccine will be subject to national regulatory approvals in the African Union’s 55 member states, with the first shipment expected to arrive in the third quarter of 2021.
According to J&J’s CEO, Mr Alex Gorsky, in a statement, “No one is safe until everyone is safe and we have been committed to equitable and global access to new COVID-19 vaccines.”
“Our support for the COVAX Facility, combined with supplementary agreements with countries and regions, will help accelerate global progress toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.
The company said Janssen Pharmaceutica, a J&J subsidiary, had entered into an agreement with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to initially make available up to 220 million doses of its vaccine.
AVAT can order an additional 180 million doses for a combined total of up to 400 million doses through 2022.
J&J says its vaccine candidate protects against COVID-19 in broad geographical regions — including those with new variants of the virus.
In a global trial of almost 40,000 people, the J&J vaccine’s efficacy against the severe disease was 85.4 per cent, but it fell to 66.1 per cent when including moderate forms of the disease.
However, unlike the shots from Moderna and Pfizer, the vaccine has won praises for its single dosage and because it does not need to be frozen.
In December, J&J entered into a partnership with Gavi, formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation based in Geneva, to support the vaccination needs of 190 participating economies through its COVAX Facility.
The expected advance purchase agreement between Gavi and J&J will provide up to 500 million doses to COVAX through 2022, according to J&J.
Data from the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE study showed that the J&J COVID-19 vaccine reduced symptomatic COVID-19 in 67% of participants. Protection was observed from day 14 and was maintained 28 days post-vaccination.
Additionally, the vaccine was 85 per cent effective in preventing severe disease and showed protection against COVID-19 related hospitalization across different variants beginning 28 days after vaccination, the data found.
J&J is working with nine partners across four continents, including Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, to manufacture and ship its vaccine.
Aspen will support vaccine shipments to the AU and will also contribute to the global availability of the vaccine, according to the announcement.
Aduragbemi Omiyale