Switzerland Authorizes COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen (J&J)

Swissmedic announced today it has temporarily authorized the "Covid-19 vaccine Janssen" developed by the pharmaceutical corporation Johnson & Johnson for people in Switzerland aged 18 and over.

On December 7, 2020, Janssen-Cilag AG, a company in the Johnson & Johnson healthcare group, submitted an application to Swissmedic for the authorization of its vaccine candidate (Ad26.COV2.S). Swissmedic reviewed this authorization application, too, in the greatly accelerated rolling procedure.

Additionally, the Human Medicines Expert Committee, Swissmedic's external advisory body, voiced its support for this decision during an extraordinary meeting.

With this authorization of the COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen from Johnson & Johnson, Swissmedic has now approved three of the four applications for COVID-19 vaccines submitted to date. The vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty) and Moderna have already been authorized. The application from AstraZeneca is still under review.

Swissmedic is the national authorization and supervisory authority for drugs and medical products. The agency ensures that only high-quality, safe, and effective medical products are available in Switzerland, thus making an important contribution to protecting human and animal health.