European Medicines Agency to decide on Janssen's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine next week

The European Medicines Agency will decide whether to authorise Janssen's single-shot COVID-19 vaccine on 11 March.

"EMA's human medicines committee is expected to give its recommendation for COVID-19 vaccine from Janssen on 11 March at a special meeting," the regulator said on Twitter.

The vaccine produced by Janssen, a susbidiary of Johnson & Johnson, has already been approved by the US medicines regulator.

A large clinical trial that involved over 40,000 participants showed that this vaccine was 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe disease, and 85% effective in preventing severe or critical disease.

Earlier, the European Commission said that it was considering emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines as a faster alternative to more rigorous conditional marketing authorisations, which have been used so far.

The move would mark a big shift in approach to vaccine approvals, as it would entail using a procedure that the EU had considered dangerous and that before the COVID-19 pandemic had been reserved for exceptional authorisation at a national level of drugs for terminally ill patients, including cancer treatments.

The potential change comes as the EU executive and the bloc's drug regulator have come under pressure for what some consider slow vaccine approvals.