GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Friday gave its approval for the single-dose Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.

In a statement, the UN health agency said that it had given clearance to the vaccine developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), for emergency use in all countries and for the international UN-partnered effort to roll-out vaccines equitably across the world, COVAX.

It is the third coronavirus vaccine after the Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca to receive backing from the WHO.

The decision comes on the back of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorization, which was announced on Thursday.

“Every new, safe and effective tool against COVID-19 is another step closer to controlling the pandemic,", said WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“But the hope offered by these tools will not materialize unless they are made available to all people in all countries. I urge governments and companies to live up to their commitments and to use all solutions at their disposal to ramp up production so that these tools become truly global public goods, available and affordable to all, and a shared solution to the global crisis.”

The vaccine from Janssen is the first to be listed by WHO as a single dose shot, which should facilitate vaccination logistics in all countries, the agency said.

"The ample data from large clinical trials shared by the company also shows that the vaccine is effective in older populations", said the agency in a press release. — UN news