An advisory panel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Sunday to recommend Johnson & Johnson’s widespread use of the coronavirus vaccine, a final clearance for the shot after U.S. regulators approved it Saturday.
State and local public health authorities will use the Food and Drug Administration and CDC guidance as they administer the first 4 million doses. The federal government, through its distribution partner, McKesson Corp., plans to send the first shots Sunday night or Monday morning.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has played an important role in guiding states on how scarce doses should be allocated, although states themselves have the final say on how they allocate shots.
One panel member said during a presentation on Sunday that there were no studies yet that matched Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine directly with the other approved vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Inc. did not compare, but that all vaccines were very effective in reducing hospitalizations and deaths.
The panelist also said that there is insufficient data to know whether the safety or efficacy of the vaccines could be compromised by conditions that weaken a person’s immune system.
Johnson & Johnson’s shot is the only single-dose coronavirus vaccine available in the US. It is also the easiest to ship and store because it can be kept in a refrigerator rather than in a freezer.
Johnson & Johnson expects to send 100 million doses by mid-year, enough to vaccinate nearly a third of Americans.