Johnson & Johnson begins phase 3 trial of single-shot COVID-19 vaccine

Johnson & Johnson is commencing phase three testing for a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The company announced on Wednesday the start of a phase three trial for its coronavirus vaccine candidate after "positive interim results" from previous clinical studies, and it said it will enroll up to 60,000 volunteers across three continents. This is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine candidate to enter phase three clinical trials in the United States but the first candidate hoping to provide protection with only one shot, The Washington Post reports.

"A single-shot vaccine, if it's safe and effective, will have substantial logistic advantages for global pandemic control," Dan Barouch, the director of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Center for Virology and Vaccine Research, told the Post. Judith Feinberg, West Virginia University vice chairwoman for research in medicine, also told The New York Times that a single-shot vaccine "would be fabulous" since "we've got to vaccinate a lot of people really quickly."

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Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky celebrated this as a "pivotal milestone" that "demonstrates our focused efforts toward a COVID-19 vaccine that are built on collaboration and deep commitment to a robust scientific process." If the vaccine proves to be safe and effective, Johnson & Johnson is expecting that "the first batches" could be "available for emergency use authorization in early 2021," and it's "on track to meet its goal of providing one billion doses of a vaccine each year."