The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has given approval for the use of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria.

Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC, made the announcement in a statement issued on Tuesday

The statement was titled “NAFDAC grants emergency use authorisation for the ‘johnson and johnson’ vaccine’

It read, “NAFDAC is hereby granting conditional emergency use authorisation for Janssen Covid-19 vaccine to prevent COVID’19 in people from 18 years of age. 

“After a thorough evaluation, the NAFDAC vaccine committee concluded that the data on the vaccine were robust and met criteria for efficacy, safety, and quality ”

The approval brings to three the number of COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in Nigeria by the agency — after AstraZeneca and Pfizer were authorised in February and April respectively.

Adeyeye said the agency made a thorough evaluation of the J&J vaccine and concluded that the data on the vaccine was robust and met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality.

According to her, the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its known risks.

She also said that results from a clinical trial involving people in the United States, South Africa, and Latin America countries have shown that Janssen Covid-19 vaccine was very useful in preventing Covid-19 in people from 18 years of age.

Unlike the AstraZeneca Vaccine which is administered in two doses, the Janssen vaccine Is administered in a single dose.

Adeyeye said the ministry of health and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) will announce when the vaccine becomes available for use in the country.