Governor Murphy announced Friday that New Jersey was notified to expect an initial shipment of 70,000 Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines delivered to the state next week. The shipment is contingent on the FDA giving emergency use approval for the pharmaceutical’s Covid-19 vaccine, whose clinical trials have recently ended.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was shown to be around 75% effective against coronavirus infection in clinical trials, a good rate of effectiveness but not quite as good as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines which are 95% effective. However, on the plus side, the J&J vaccine only requires one shot, whereas Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses spread 30 days apart.
An FDA panel is meeting today to determine whether to approve the vaccine, and final emergency use approval could be granted as soon as Friday evening.