Covid: eight million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine expected in France by the end of June

The American laboratory Johnson & Johnson has promised France a delivery of eight million of its single-dose vaccine.

Deliveries will start on April 19 in the European Union.

It is the fourth vaccine to be authorized in Europe.

Some 47 million doses of the other three authorized vaccines will be delivered to France over the next three months. 

France will receive around eight million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccineCovid-19 in total by the end of June, the health ministry said, with around 500,000 doses in April.

The American laboratory, whose vaccine is the fourth to be approved in the European Union, must start its deliveries in Europe on April 19, before ramping up.

By comparison, some 47 million doses of the other three authorized vaccines will be delivered to France in April, May and June, two-thirds of which will be supplied by Pfizer-BioNTech, according to a table from the Ministry of Health on Tuesday.

Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is the first, among those given a WHO green light, to require only one injection instead of two.

It can be stored at refrigerator temperatures, like that of AstraZeneca and unlike those of Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.

The case of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V

During a press point organized by the Association of Economic and Financial Journalists (AJEF) on Wednesday, the Minister of Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher also mentioned the case of the Spoutnik V vaccine. Currently evaluated by the Agency European medicine, it arouses division among the 27. Germany has notably stated that it is ready to use it, provided that it is approved by the EMA.

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For its part, Austria announced Tuesday discussions with Russia to receive one million doses, while France has accused Moscow and Beijing of using their vaccines as propaganda tools.

"To be able to deliver the millions of doses promised, it is already necessary to set up the production chains", underlined Agnès Pannier-Runacher, evoking in particular four to five months necessary to carry out the stages of "fill and finish", it is that is to say, bottling and packaging.

Sputnik V is based on the technology of viral vectors, such as that of Johnson & Johnson.

But he uses two adenoviruses as a support, against one for the American vaccine.

"This doubles the problems in terms of production, because two parallel production lines are needed for each adenovirus," commented the Minister.

Sanofi will "serve 27 million doses per month (...) in the 3rd quarter"

The latter also returned to the case of the French laboratory Sanofi, behind on its own projects, and which has signed agreements with its competitors to produce part of their vaccines.

"We are therefore on a capacity for Sanofi to serve 27 million doses per month (...) in the 3rd quarter, rather September at full speed, not counting their own vaccine," she said.

Finally, the minister estimated separately on BFMTV that "less than 1%" of the doses currently available are "lost" in France, "a very low rate in reality".