BOGOTA, March 26 — Colombia has approved emergency use of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot Covid-19 vaccine, the director of food and drug regulator Invima said as part of a government address yesterday.
The approved vaccine is developed by Janssen, the pharmaceutical wing of Johnson & Johnson.
“In its capacity as regulator, Invima has authorised the emergency use of the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Janssen, of the multinational Johnson & Johnson,” INVIMA director Julio Cesar Aldana said during the government’s nightly broadcast.
In addition to being a one-dose vaccine, the J&J vaccine has less demanding storage needs than some other approved vaccines, Aldana said.
Colombia has also closed agreements for vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, AstraZeneca , Moderna, and Sinovac. It is also set to receive doses via the World Health Organization-backed Covax mechanism.
Colombia has also so-far approved use of the vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac.
The government has reached an agreement to buy nine million doses of J&J’s one-shot vaccine.
Colombia hopes to vaccinate around 70 per cent of its population in a bid to achieve herd immunity.
The country has recorded over 2.35 million cases of coronavirus and more than 62,500 deaths. It has administered more than 1.38 million vaccine doses. — Reuters
