Italy Dispatches Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine to Inoculation Centers

By Staff, Agencies

Italy dispatched the initial shipments of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine to inoculation centers on Wednesday.

Some 184,000 doses are heading to regions in the first batch, with the shot recommended for those aged 60 and more.

The roll-out begins after the European Medicines Agency announced it had found a possible link between inoculation and rare cases of blood clotting.

The regulator still said that the benefits of using the vaccine still trump the possible risks.

Italy's guidelines for using the vaccine are not unlike those for the jab developed by AstraZeneca, which was earlier in the center of a controversy also linked with rare cases – sometimes fatal – of thrombosis.

Both jabs are based on the same technological platform, using a modified common cold virus to train the human immune system to spot and neutralize the coronavirus.

Elsewhere in the EU, Johnson & Johnson rollout is expected to resume as well after the EMA ruling, with Denmark set to announce its decision later on Wednesday.

Previously, Copenhagen scrapped the use of the AstraZeneca jab, while saying it could still use the vaccine in the future.