WHO warns of benefit-risk analysis before giving Janssen/J&J Vaccine

The World Health Organisation has advised countries to assess the benefits and risks of the newly approved Janssen COVID-19 vaccine before administering it on their populations.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control on Tuesday approved the Janssen vaccine for the management of COVID-19 in the country; even as Johnson & Johnson had announced same day that it was collaborating with Telangana, India-based Biological E to produce the ‘Janssen/J&J COVID-19 vaccine’ in India.

The WHO counselled that when setting their immunisation policies, countries should assess the risk of thromboembolic events (blood clots) from use of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine, compared to the benefits.

“Countries should perform such a benefit-risk analysis taking into account local epidemiology, including incidence and mortality from COVID-19 disease, age groups targeted for vaccination, and the availability of alternative vaccines,” the COVID-19 subcommittee of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety said while discussing the safety signals related to the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.

Read Also: Covid-19: EU To Reopen Borders To Fully Vaccinated

The United Nations agency says that vaccination remains a critical tool to help prevent further illness and death and to control the COVID-19 global pandemic.

As of 18th May 2021, there were 163,312,429 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,386,825 deaths, reported to the WHO.

The Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine was listed for emergency use by WHO on March 12, 2021.

The vaccine has been authorised for use in Europe, the United States and other countries, with the widest experience to date in the United States, where more than eight million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered as of May 7th.

The WHO also said it is carefully monitoring the rollout of all COVID-19 vaccines and will continue to work closely with countries to manage potential risks, and to use science and data to drive the response and update recommendations,” the global agency said.