Soon a fourth vaccine against Covid authorized in the European Union?
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Tuesday that it would meet on March 11 to decide whether it gave the green light to the deployment of the vaccine from Janssen, the European subsidiary of the American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.
The EMA had previously said it plans to make a decision in mid-March.
Johnson & Johnson had applied for EU authorization in February for its vaccine, itself undergoing continuous evaluation by the EMA since December 1.
EMA's human medicines committee (#CHMP) expected to give its recommendation for # COVID19vaccine from Janssen on 11 March 2021.
👉https: //t.co/WlYiJcN4af
- EU Medicines Agency (@EMA_News) March 2, 2021
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the filing of this request, stressing that the EU "will be ready to give its authorization as soon as the EMA has provided a positive scientific opinion".
“More safe and effective vaccines are coming,” she said.
The three vaccines authorized to date on the European market are those of AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.
The one from Johnson & Johnson, which is a single injection, does not require very low temperatures for its conservation.
Merck to help Johnson & Johnson produce vaccine
To produce its vaccine in the United States, Johnson & Johnson will be helped by the pharmaceutical company Merck.
US President Joe Biden was due to make such an announcement Tuesday afternoon, according to a senior government official.
No details on this agreement between the two American companies have yet been revealed.
This announcement could potentially allow a substantial increase in the number of doses rapidly distributed in the United States for this vaccine.
The vaccine from "J&J" obtained an authorization for emergency use in the country at the end of last week.
Shortly before, while speaking on the pace of the vaccination campaign in the United States, Joe Biden had said that "even faster progress on vaccines" would be made in March, indicating that announcements would be made. once authorization has been granted.
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Johnson & Johnson has currently committed to ship 100 million doses to the United States before the end of June.
Some 3.9 million doses are already being distributed this week, said Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the team in charge of the fight against Covid-19 at the White House on Monday.
About 16 million more will be delivered by the end of March, he said.
At the end of January, Merck announced the interruption of work on its two vaccine projects against Covid-19, including the one developed in collaboration with the Pasteur Institute in France, for lack of convincing results during the first tests.
Such production agreements have already been concluded between Sanofi and the Pfizer / BioNTech alliance, the French laboratory having announced that it is packaging millions of doses of its competitor for Europe, for lack of being able to offer its own vaccine.