Johnson & Johnson has sought U.S. health regulator’s authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. The company will also apply for authorization to European authorities in the ensuing weeks.

The application for emergency use authorization comes after a January 29 global trial report which stated that the vaccine had a 66% efficacy in preventing COVID-19 infection. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee has been scheduled for February 26, where the drugmaker’s application for emergency use authorization will be discussed. The J&J vaccine is a single-shot vaccine and does not need to be shipped frozen, unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines… (Reuters, February 5, 2021)