Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID vaccine has been recommended for conditional approval by the EU drugs regulator.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it should only be recommended for over-18s.

Authorisation for the vaccine – referred to by some as “one and done” – will follow shortly, said the EU Commission.

The bloc has had a slow start in rolling out vaccines, with its president criticised for not acting fast enough.

The Johnson & Johnson jab is the fourth to be endorsed for use in the European Union after those from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.

America, Canada and Bahrain have also signed if off, while South Africa is doing an expedited review.

The UK has ordered 30 million doses, pending approval by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), with the option of millions more.

In a 44,000-person trial by Johnson & Johnson, the vaccine was found to be 66% effective overall at preventing moderate-to-severe COVID-19 four weeks after inoculation.

It was 100% effective in preventing hospitalisation and death.

As well as being one shot, it also only needs to be kept at fridge temperature, making its storage, distribution and handling much easier.

And costing as little as $10 (£7) a dose, it is cheaper than most vaccines – coming in at about the same as two shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca option.

Johnson & Johnson also said it worked across multiple variants of coronavirus, including have some effectiveness against the South African variant.

The European regulator said in a statement on Thursday that the vaccine was about 67% effective.

It said most side effects were usually mild or moderate and stopped within a couple of days. The most were pain at the injection site, tiredness, muscle pain, headache and nausea.

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