The problems that a clinical trial participant began to suffer from are now being investigated by an independent committee and Johnson & Johnson physicians.
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The final phase of testing was launched by the American company on September 23. According to the DPA, it is attended by 60,000 volunteers from three continents. Johnson & Johnson hopes the vaccine could be available early next year. While most manufacturers anticipate that covid-19 vaccine will need to be administered in two doses, a single dose should be sufficient for Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
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Last week, the European Commission signed a preliminary contract to buy vaccines with Johnson & Johnson, which will provide member states with the purchase of 200 million doses of vaccine. The EU will have a pre-emptive right to the same amount thanks to the contract. Similar contracts were concluded by the EC with Sanofi-GSK and AstraZeneca.
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AstraZeneca, like Johnson & Johnson, suspended clinical trials for its vaccine in early September. Also in this case, one of the participants developed unexplained health problems. After a few days, however, the company resumed testing the vaccine, which it is developing together with Oxford University.
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The AP previously mentioned that the suspension of clinical trials of new drugs is relatively common. But now he is receiving extraordinary attention due to the world’s interest in the development of the covid-19 vaccine. More than 1.07 million people have died from the disease worldwide.
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