FDA approves emergency use for J&J single-shot coronavirus vaccine

The FDA announced approval for emergency use for Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine.

We’ll have more soon.

Food and Drug Administration staff wrote in a document that summarized the company’s results that the vaccine was 72% effective in the U.S. trial of its global study of more than 43,000 participants, and confirmed findings J&J released earlier this month.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were authorized by the FDA in December, just before the first major coronavirus variants were seen in the U.S.

Since then, mutations have become a major concern, and J&J’s vaccine has been found to be slightly less effective in South Africa and Latin America, where two quickly spreading versions were identified.

The most frequent side effects included fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain and injection-site pain, FDA staff wrote.

The FDA’s independent advisory panel reviewed and approved the data behind the single-dose shot on Friday.