Estonia to receive 300,000 doses of Janssen coronavirus vaccine
Last week, the European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorization to Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine and Estonia is inline to receive 300,000 doses.
After the conditional authorization was announced, Minister for Health and Labor Tanel Kiik (Center) wrote on Twitter that Estonia will receive 300,000 doses of the vaccines under the EU's joint procurement scheme.
As only one shot of the vaccine is required for immunization, the initial dosage agreement is enough to fully vaccinate 300,000 people.
The Ministry of Social Affairs told ERR on Friday it is not yet known exactly when the first doses will arrive in Estonia. News website Politico Europe reported the first doses of the U.S. made vaccine are expected to arrive in Europe in mid-April.
The vaccine is made by Janssen a sister company of Johnson & Johnson and both the European Medicines Agency and the European Commission approved the vaccine for use on Thursday.
It is the fourth vaccine to be authorized for use in the European Union alongside the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
Euroopa Ravimiamet ja Euroopa Komisjon andsid täna heakskiidu juba neljandale COVID-19 haiguse vaktsiinile Vaccine Janssen. Selle eeliseks on, et seda manustatakse ühe- mitte kahedoosilisena. Eesti ostab eellepingu kohaselt vaktsiini 300 000 kuuri. https://t.co/AAwNfCdAxc
— Tanel Kiik (@TanelKiik) March 11, 2021
Estonia has joined five pre-purchase agreements from the EU's COVID-19 vaccine joint procurement scheme for doses from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and CureVac.
To date, more than 133,000 people have received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in Estonia, which is approximately 10 percent of the population.
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Editor: Helen Wright