Daily News Capsule

As of Tuesday, February 9, the Government official Vinod Kumar Paul, NITI Ayog member, health and nutrition, said at a conference that Johnson & Jonson, the US giant is interested in manufacturing covid vaccine in India.

“ There is no concern over the effectiveness of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine, which is being used in the country for the gigantic inoculation campaigns in the country”, he added.

The question clicked, it that why J&J is showing interest in covid vaccine production not in the US, but in India too?

Hence, the J&Jvaccine is a single shot vaccine, unlike other covid vaccines that require two shots, hence J&J wants to make it more convenient for people and the government to deliver it to a massive number of people.

The vaccine known as the Janssen vaccine is produced by Janssen biotech, the pharmaceutical branch of Johnson & Johnson.

J&J covid vaccine is based on the trial of human adenovirus with the genetic material of SARS COV-2 spike protein to bring out the response, hence based on a viral vector platform.

It is expected to be available sooner in India, as Biotech E, the Indian vaccine maker, has set foot in an agreement with J&J for the manufacture of the drug substance and finished products of the vaccine. 

J&J vaccine is expected to be around $10 per dose, said the government in a recent presentation. 

Presently, the AstraZeneca covid vaccine is sold at rupees 200 per dose (excluding taxes), while the Bharat Covaxin vaccine is sold at rupees 295 per dose(excluding taxes).