Johnson & Johnson Covid Vaccine To Be Available In India By July

The Covid-19 vaccine was likely to be available in India in small quantities developed by Johnson & Johnson by July this year sources said.

As per sources, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine could arrive in India as early as July and initially, it will be limited to a few thousand doses.

The Association of Healthcare Providers (India) is in the process of privately acquiring the vaccine directly from the US-based manufacturer.

The one-shot vaccine will be priced at $25 in India. The vaccine does not require to be stored frozen and is suitable for a country like India, which lacks the healthcare infrastructure for storage of vaccines in sub-zero temperatures in tier-2 regions and beyond.

Johnson & Johnson has already initiated talks with the Union government to authenticate its manufacturing process and specifications in the country.

There have been no studies to show how protective the J&J vaccine is against new variants like Delta and Delta Plus. Johnson & Johnson has said it is testing whether the immune response from its vaccine is capable of neutralizing the Delta variant in a laboratory setting, but no data is available yet.