Millennials to be offered single-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine to ‘jab and go’

A new single shot Covid-19 vaccine could be available by July and will be mainly used to target young millennials who might not want to wait for three months for a second dose.

Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, said UK medical regulators are now formally assessing the safety of the Janssen vaccine, which is made by Johnson & Johnson.

Ministers are hoping the Janssen jab can be deployed among those born in the 1990s and around the turn of the century as a 'jab and go' offering.

Anyone receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, seen as the workhorse of the Government’s vaccination roll-out, has to have two jabs, 12 weeks apart, before being fully inoculated.

The hope is that the Janssen jab will be attractive to young people who will be desperate to start enjoying a summer by the time the vaccine roll-out reaches them.

Government sources said the first Janssen jabs will be in people’s arms by July at the earliest, around the time the youngest adults will be receiving their first jabs.

The UK Government has ordered 30 million doses of the Janssen jab which uses the same type of technology as AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

One source said: “Where it will be useful is it could work really well for the younger cohort - the 18 to 29 year olds. One hit and you are done - and you are off to Ibiza.”

Pressed last week by Steve Baker MP in the Commons, Mr Zahawi told MPs: “Reviews are underway by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess the Johnson & Johnson (known as Janssen in Europe) and Novavax vaccines.

“Any vaccines that are made available will have been authorised because they pass the MHRA’s tests on safety and efficacy.

“If, and when, those vaccines are authorised by the MHRA, we expect to receive the doses for both vaccines in the second half of this year.”

The Janssen jab was approved in the US in February and the EU in March after trials found it was 67 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19 and completely effective at preventing hospital admissions and death from the virus.

The MHRA and Johnson & Johnson were approached late last week for comment by The Telegraph.

Pressed about the progress of approving the Janssen jab two weeks ago, June Raine told The Telegraph: “As stated by Janssen, we are working with them to complete the rolling review process.”

“We’re not able to comment further due to commercial confidentiality.”

Two Covid-19 vaccines are currently being administered in the UK - but there are several more that have been ordered and are yet to be approved.

The Pfizer-BioNTech jab was approved on Dec 8 while the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab was approved on Dec 30.

The Moderna vaccine was approved on Jan 7 and is expected to be rolled out this month.

The Novavax vaccine is awaiting imminent approval from the MHRA.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The UK’s vaccination rollout continues at pace, with over 35 million jabs administered so far.

“We are on track to offer a first dose to everyone in the priority groups 1-9 by mid-April and all adults by the end of July. Thanks to the swift and decisive work of our Vaccine Taskforce, the UK moved quickly to secure 30 million doses of Janssen’s vaccine last summer.”

A source added: "We cannot provide details on vaccines which have not yet been authorised by the MHRA.

"We have set out our timelines for the vaccination programme and there is no change to this. We intend to offer a first dose to all over-50s by mid-April and all adults by the end of July.

"Vaccines are being distributed fairly across the UK to make sure the most vulnerable people in society are immunised first. Some parts of the country have made very significant progress and have gone slightly faster than the average. We’re putting more supply into areas that have more to do and the rollout of vaccinations will continue to expand at pace.

"Through the government’s Vaccines Taskforce, the UK has secured early access to 457 million doses of seven of the most promising vaccine candidates."