Johnson & Johnson has moved an application seeking permission to conduct a study of COVID-19 single shot vaccine in India in adolescents aged 12-17 years.
In a brief statement released on Friday, the American pharma giant said it had submitted its application on Tuesday, and that it is "imperative" to ensure all sections of the population, including children, are vaccinated against the coronavirus as quickly as possible to stop the virus. "To ultimately achieve herd immunity it is imperative that COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials continue to move forward in this population, and we remain deeply committed to the critical work needed to make our COVID-19 vaccine equitably accessible for all age groups," the statement read.
Earlier in August, Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was given emergency use approval in India. The Union health minister had said this will further boost India's collective fight against coronavirus infection.
On April 5, Johnson & Johnson said it had begun administering its COVID-19 vaccine to 12-17-year-old participants of its ongoing phase 2a clinical trial in the US. The trial, which began in September, was designed to determine the vaccine's safety and efficacy for a one-dose regimen, as well as test potential vaccination schedules at one, two and three-month intervals for a two-dose regimen.
The five vaccines granted emergency use authorisation in India are Serum Institute's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Russia's Sputnik V, Moderna and now Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
