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“The EMA concluded by consensus that the data on the vaccine were robust and met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality,” the pharmacist announced in a statement.
The Janssen vaccine (European subsidiary of the multinational Johnson & Johnson) is the fourth recommended inoculation in the European Union against Covid-19, and this is the first single-dose vaccine in the EU.
“With this latest positive opinion, the authorities will have another option to combat the pandemic and protect the lives and health of their citizens,” said Emer Cooke, executive director of EMA.
In a clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people from the United States, South Africa, and Latin America, The vaccine achieved a 67 percent reduction in the number of symptomatic Covid-19 cases.
In this study, the reported vaccine side effects were largely mild or moderate, disappearing within days of vaccination. The most common symptoms were injection site pain, headache, tiredness, muscle pain, and nausea.
How does this vaccine work?
The Janssen inoculation prepares the body to defend itself against Covid-19, as it is composed of a viral vector, an adenovirus, which has been modified to contain the DNA of a SARS-CoV2 gene., in particular of the gene responsible for the production of the protein beak, that is to say, the entrance door of the virus in our cells.
Through this process, the adenovirus, which does not reproduce or cause disease, transmits the SARS-CoV2 gene to the cells of the vaccinated person and it is the patient’s own cells that can produce copies of this protein.
Then the immune system of the patient will read this protein. beak, inoculated by the vaccine, as a stranger, which will lead to the production of antibodies and the activation of the body’s defenses.
In this way, if the patient comes into contact with the SARS-CoV2 virus again, the immune system will know how to act and will be ready to defend itself., recognizing the protein beak that you identified at the time of vaccination.
Other vaccines against Covid-19 use this technique, in particular the AstraZeneca and Sputnik V vaccines, but only the Janssen vaccines work with a single dose.
Logistical advantages
Despite having a lower efficacy rate than Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, for example, The Janssen vaccine has been shown to significantly reduce hospitalizations and the chance of serious illness.
Unlike the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, This inoculation does not require very low temperatures and can be stored in a freezer, which facilitates the logistics process in various parts of the world.
It’s more, having a single dose can simplify the long vaccination process in some countries where vaccination of the population is delayed.
Portugal is expected to receive 4.5 million doses of the Janssen vaccine by the end of 2021, but Vaccines are not expected to begin arriving in the country until early in the second quarter.
