From game-changer to back-up: J&J's Covid vaccine struggles in Europe
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022
SUNDAY, MAY 29, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
From game-changer to back-up: J&J's Covid vaccine struggles in Europe

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
23 June, 2021, 01:00 pm
Last modified: 23 June, 2021, 04:25 pm

Related News

  • The death of Davos?
  • Finland discovers 'highly likely' case of monkeypox
  • Europe, Asia gas buyers switching to long-term supplies to beat volatile prices
  • One in ten euro zone households owns crypto-assets: ECB survey
  • Pfizer says 3 Covid shots protect children under 5

From game-changer to back-up: J&J's Covid vaccine struggles in Europe

Supply problems, safety concerns, improved deliveries of rival vaccines and countries' inoculation strategies have all played a part in holding back usage

Reuters
23 June, 2021, 01:00 pm
Last modified: 23 June, 2021, 04:25 pm
Vials with a sticker reading, "Covid-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Johnson & Johnson logo in this illustration taken October 31, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Vials with a sticker reading, "Covid-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Johnson & Johnson logo in this illustration taken October 31, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

At the height of Europe's vaccine supply crisis in March, Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was touted as a game-changer. But two months into its rollout, the shot has the lowest uptake of all four approved vaccines.

Supply problems, safety concerns, improved deliveries of rival vaccines and countries' inoculation strategies have all played a part in holding back usage.

Despite the shot's clear logistical advantage of not requiring a booster, the European Union has only administered about half of the delivered doses - an uptake rate much lower than any rival Covid-19 vaccine, including AstraZeneca's (AZN.L), which has also been dogged by supply and safety issues.

That is bad news for J&J (JNJ.N), and also raises questions about the efficiency of the EU's inoculation campaign, as the bloc's drugs regulator insists the shot can save lives.

Supply problems in particular have soured the mood in Brussels, which has already decided not to take up an option to order 100 million additional doses of the J&J vaccine, and has not yet decided whether to exercise a second one for another 100 million shots which lapses at the end of June.

EU sources say that if ordered, the extra doses will most likely be donated to countries outside the bloc.

The shot has also struggled in the US market.

High Hopes

Three months ago, the situation was very different.

"A single dose vaccine can make a difference in the speed of rollout," EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on March 11, the day J&J's shot was approved for use in the EU.

At that time, the 27-nation bloc's vaccination drive was struggling, largely due to big cuts in expected supplies from AstraZeneca. And the J&J shot, initially expected to arrive at the start of April, was seen as crucial to building momentum.

Despite a two-week delay in the rollout, EU officials were still upbeat. "The vaccine will massively accelerate the pace in the EU," the bloc's top lawmaker on health matters, Peter Liese, said on April 12.

But two months later, only about 12 million doses have been delivered to the EU out of the 55 million expected by the end of June. Production problems at J&J subcontractor Emergent (EBS.N) led the EU to refuse about 20 million doses this month, and the bloc does not expect J&J to meet delivery targets.

Of the doses supplied, only about half - or around six million - have been administered, according to data from the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC), the lowest uptake of the four Covid-19 shots approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

By comparison, as of Tuesday, over 90% of the about 250 million vaccines shipped by Pfizer (PFE.N) and its partner BioNTech (22UAy.DE) have been administered, and nearly 85% of the over 30 million Moderna (MRNA.O) doses have been used.

Around 75% of AstraZeneca's nearly 70 million delivered shots have also been injected into EU arms.

In France, the EU's second most populous country, the uptake of J&J's vaccine was half the bloc's average - at just 22% of the delivered doses in mid-June, a French health ministry official said, whereas the utilisation rates for the Pfizer and Moderna shots were well above 80%, and over 60% for AstraZeneca.

The gap is even more striking when considering the stock of these two-dose vaccines needs to be managed carefully to ensure a second dose is available within the prescribed interval. Such precautions are not needed for the single-dose J&J vaccine.

A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment on the low uptake, while adding the Commission and governments were "for the moment of course disappointed with the numbers of deliveries, but they hope that these deliveries will increase over time."

J&J has repeatedly said it will deliver the 200 million doses ordered by the EU, but has declined to comment on the second-quarter target and on the low uptake.

Vaccine For The Islands

One reason for the low usage is that the J&J shot was briefly suspended, and has faced some restrictions, due to its links to very rare, but potentially fatal, blood clotting.

AstraZeneca's vaccine has faced similar safety-related hurdles and stricter limitations on its use in the EU, but still has a higher take-up.

However, AstraZeneca's potential safety issues emerged only after it had been administered to many people in Europe, whereas J&J's possible side-effects were known even before its rollout on the continent, after its deployment in the United States.

"There is no strategic reason for the low administration of this vaccine," said Guido Rasi, former director of the EMA and currently adviser to the Italian government on the Covid-19 emergency.

He said one of the explanations for the low uptake was that J&J's vaccine became available after other shots, when many of the most vulnerable people had already been inoculated, making its use less pressing.

Ironically, the logistical advantage it offers may also have reduced its use, as authorities sought to deploy it in more remote regions with fewer people.

"Being a single-dose jab, it has been seen as preferable to administer it in places where it would be more problematic to administer the vaccines twice, such as islands and those parts of the country that are more difficult to reach," Rasi said.

Top News / World+Biz

Covid vaccine / Johnson & Johnson / Europe

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Central bankers’ refusal to embark into ‘hard helicopter money’ experiment have been a good idea. Photo: Reuters
    Interbank exchange rate for dollar set at Tk89
  • A Regio regional passenger train operated by Deutsche Bahn AG travels on a bridge in Berlin. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
    Why Germany is offering a summer of cheap trains
  • Patients opting to delay crucial treatment amid rising costs
    Patients opting to delay crucial treatment amid rising costs

MOST VIEWED

  • A woman wearing a face mask crosses a road at the Central Business District (CBD), amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Beijing, China May 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
    Shanghai to lift 'unreasonable' curbs on firms, Beijing eases restrictions
  • Photo: Collected
    US doctors reconsider Pfizer's Paxlovid for lower-risk Covid patients
  • People wearing protective face masks walk on a street, following new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Shanghai, China August 25, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song
    'Tomorrow will be better': Shanghai inches towards Covid re-opening
  • North Korea says new fever cases under 100,000 as virus fight heats up
    North Korea says new fever cases under 100,000 as virus fight heats up
  • People in protective suits cross a street during lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Shanghai, China, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Shanghai heading out of lockdown but China still lost in economic gloom
  • A woman wearing a face mask crosses a road at the Central Business District (CBD), amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Beijing, China May 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
    Tightening Covid net, Beijing deals out punishments, stark warnings

Related News

  • The death of Davos?
  • Finland discovers 'highly likely' case of monkeypox
  • Europe, Asia gas buyers switching to long-term supplies to beat volatile prices
  • One in ten euro zone households owns crypto-assets: ECB survey
  • Pfizer says 3 Covid shots protect children under 5

Features

Central bankers’ refusal to embark into ‘hard helicopter money’ experiment have been a good idea. Photo: Reuters

Venice has a 400-year-old Covid monetary lesson

2h | Panorama
Aiman R Khan. Illustration: TBS

Why ‘marry your rapist’ court orders are not always what they seem

5h | Thoughts
Photo: Collected

Top 3 The Ordinary products that give extraordinary results

7h | Mode
Photo: Courtesy

KVN Beauty: Channel your inner Bangalee baddie

7h | Mode

More Videos from TBS

Paper industry worth thousands of crores in Bogura

Paper industry worth thousands of crores in Bogura

1h | Videos
Photo: TBS

Tips to help you become a successful lawyer

8h | Videos
Photo: TBS

Harassment over 'indecent clothing': Women gather at Narsingdi railway station to protest, show solidarity

8h | Videos
People bid adieu to Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury

People bid adieu to Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury

8h | Videos

Most Read

1
Bangladesh Bank GM, DGM’s designation changed
Banking

Bangladesh Bank GM, DGM’s designation changed

2
Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards
NBR

Corporates go cashless…tax cut on cards

3
Photo: Courtesy
Panorama

Misfit Technologies: A Singaporean startup rooted firmly in Bangladesh

4
British International Investment (BII) CEO Nick O’Donohoe. Illustration: TBS
Economy

BII to invest $450m in Bangladesh in 5 years

5
Representational image. Picture: Pixabay
Economy

Govt raises regulatory duty to discourage imports of 130 products

6
Photo: Collected
Industry

Spanish recycled cotton producer opens new facility in Bangladesh

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab