Johnson & Johnson Vaccine receives US EUA, Australia rejects it’s use.

On February 27, 2021, following VRBPAC‘s green light, the US FDA granted the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 Vaccine Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for 18 years and older. To following day, Feb 28, the CDC’s ACIP committee voted unanimously to recommend the vaccine in the US population. [1]

The Janssen/J&J COVID-19 Vaccine is an adenovirus vector-based vaccine which carries the DNA code of a stabilized SARS-CoV-2 spike into the human cell.  It is the first  COVID-19 vaccine approved as a single dose.

In Australia, in early April it was announced that “Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine will not be part of Australia’s vaccine rollout…Health Minister Greg Hunt said that “similarities” to AstraZeneca’s vaccine “were the reason the federal government had decided against pursuing the option any further.” [1]

By April 2021 enough recipients of AstraZeneca’s vaccine was experiencing blood-clotting issues in the under 50 age group, to steer authorities to recommend Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine instead.

By May 5, 2022, the U.S. FDA limited the authorised use as the vaccine a is may cause “thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) which may be life-threatening.”