Europe's drugs regulator said on Tuesday it could issue an opinion by mid-March on whether to approve drugmaker Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine under a speedy review.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it had received a conditional marketing application for the vaccine, called Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen. The shot is also being evaluated by US authorities.
The EU watchdog said a fast-tracked review of the coronavirus vaccine by its human medicines committee was possible because it had been already assessing some data in real time, and will now look at the vaccine's efficacy, safety and quality.
Ireland has ordered 2.2 million doses of the vaccine, which can be stored at much lower temperatures than the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.
Single-dose
The single-dose vaccine, developed by J&J's Janssen unit, was 66 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19 in a large global trial against multiple variants, a study showed last month.
Though rivals' shot have reported a higher protection rate against the novel coronavirus, J&J's vaccine could help boost supply and simplify immunisation campaigns because it does not require a second shot or need to be shipped frozen.
Trials have also shown the vaccine is 100 per cent effective in preventing hospitalisation and death from Covid-19.
Europe currently has approved vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca/Oxford.
Reuters reported last week that the EMA was planning to fast track variant-modified Covid-19 vaccines.
Endorsements by the EMA have to be formally approved by the European Union.
