Mexico City, Mexico — The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) of Mexico has authorized the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine for emergency use.
“This authorization for emergency use certifies that the vaccine meets the quality, safety and efficacy requirements necessary to be applied,” the commission said in a statement.
After its authorization, the Undersecretary of Health of Mexico, Hugo López-Gatell, released the news on social media where he stated that “It is always good news to have more authorizations for safe, quality and effective vaccines.”
The Janssen-Cilag laboratory vaccine was licensed for emergency use in the United States in February. However, use of the single-dose vaccine was temporarily stopped in mid-April due to extremely rare but severe cases of blood clotting in the cerebral venous sinuses of some people after receiving the vaccine.
On April 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to resume use of Johnson & Johnson against the coronavirus in the United States.
This after the safety of Johnson & Johnson’s covid-19 vaccine was evaluated and found that only 3 percent of the reactions reported after receiving the injection are classified as serious. In addition there were a total of 17 cases of severe blood clotting in people with low levels of platelets in the blood.
“We have concluded that the known and potential benefits of Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine are greater than its known and potential risks in people 18 years of age and older,” Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in an FDA statement.
Currently in Mexico, Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (Cofepris) has authorized the use of the Spunik V, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, CanSino, CoronaVac, Covaxin and now Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
