Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine receives FDA approval

In a long discussion session, the Johnson & Johnson scientists argued that their single-shot vaccine was 66 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 and 85% effective against severe illness.

This FDA approval was expected because Johnson and Johnson's vaccine has met all the FDA criteria established last year for vaccine authorization, including a large-scale trial that proved the safety and efficacy and the company's ability to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine consistently and safely.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a viral vector vaccine that makes use of a harmless adenovirus viral vector – and replaces a small fragment of its genetic code with the genes of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.