NAFDAC approves Johnson and Johnson vaccine

 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has approved the use of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria.

 

The agency’s Director-General, Prof Moji Adeyeye, made this known in a statement issued on Tuesday signed by the agency’s spokesperson, Dr Abubakar Jimoh.

 

The statement was titled “NAFDAC grants emergency use authorisation for the ‘johnson and johnson’ vaccine’

 

It read, “NAFDAC is hereby granting conditional emergency use authorisation for Janssen Covid-19 vaccine to prevent COVID’19 in people from 18 years of age

 “After a thorough evaluation, the NAFDAC vaccine committee concluded that the data on the vaccine were robust and met criteria for efficacy, safety, and quality ”

 

According to her, data has also shown that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its potential risk hence the need for approval.

 

She also said that results from a clinical trial involving people in the United States, South Africa, and Latin America countries have shown that Janssen Covid-19 vaccine was very useful in preventing Covid-19 in people from 18 years of age.

 

Unlike the AstraZeneca Vaccine which is administered in two doses, the Janssen vaccine Is administered in a single dose.