European Medicines Agency approves Janssen's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine be approved for distribution in the European Union.

Janssen's vaccine, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is the first single-dose vaccine to be approved. It is recommended for persons over the age of 18. 

In February, Health Minister Chris Fearne said Malta had 250,000 doses of these vaccines on order. 

Results from a clinical trial found a 67% reduction in the number of symptomatic COVID-19 cases after two weeks in people who received the vaccine compared with people given a placebo. This means that the vaccine had a 67% efficacy.

EMA said the side effects of the vaccine were usually mild or moderate and cleared within a couple of days. The most common ones were pain at the injection site, headache, tiredness, muscle pain and nausea.