The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Wednesday (April 14) it expected to issue a recommendation on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine next week but that it continued to believe the benefits of the shot outweighed the risks of side effects.
Deliveries had already begun in some European countries but authorities took differing approaches on whether to restrict use of the single-shot vaccine, with Belgium and France saying they would go ahead, while Greece and Italy put them on hold.
The EMA said J&J was in contact with national authorities and recommended storing doses already received until the safety committee issued an expedited recommendation.
The delay came as a further blow to Europe’s faltering vaccinations campaign, which has been hit by problems ranging from poor coordination between national and regional authorities to procurement difficulties and a damaging contractual row with British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca.
(Reuters)
