Trials of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot Covid vaccine could produce results next WEEK adding a fourth approved jab to Britain's arsenal with 30million doses on order

• UK has deal for 30million doses, with the option of ordering 22million more
• Government scientists believe it will be rolled out in Britain starting mid-Feb 
• Uses same technology as Oxford University, so it is easy to store and transporJohnson and Johnson will publish results from phase three trials of its one-shot coronavirus vaccine next week, the company announced last night.

  The jab uses similar technology to the Oxford University vaccine, making it just as easy to transport and store, but requires just a single injection to protect against Covid. 

  Government scientists expect the vaccine, made by Janssen, the Belgian arm of the US pharmaceutical giant, could be given emergency authorisation and rolled out in Britain by mid-February.

  The UK has already struck a deal for 30million doses, with the option of ordering 22million more. 

  If approved, it would be the third Covid jab in the UK's arsenal and could significantly speed up the programme which has been held back by supply shortages. 

  Pfizer's and AstraZeneca's are the only ones currently being rolled out in the UK and have accounted for the nearly 7million doses given out already.

  Another jab, made by US firm Moderna and approved by the British regular, won't be delivered until March because the UK was late to get its order in.

  The promising news on Johnson & Johnson comes amid a blazing row between the EU and vaccine manufacturers over supply delays which appear to be hitting Europe harder than they are affecting Britain, which is steaming ahead in the race to immunise. 

  

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  Johnson and Johnson will publish results from phase three trials of its one-shot coronavirus vaccine next week, the company announced last night 

  

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  The jab uses similar technology to the Oxford University vaccine, making it just as easy to transport and store, but requires just a single injection to protect against Covid  tDeveloped by Janssen, the vaccine uses a harmless adenovirus to deliver genetic material that tricks the human body into producing proteins known as antigens, normally found on the coronavirus's surface, helping the immune system develop an arsenal against infection. 

  Like the Oxford jab, which also uses adenoviral vectors, it can be stored and transported in normal fridges.

  However the key difference is that the J&J jab is designed to be effective as a single dose, whereas Oxford and Pfizer's is given in two shots three or more weeks apart.

  If trials show it is effective at blocking Covid, it will become the first approved jab to work in a single injection and could rapidly speed up mass immunisation plans. 

  The 30million doses already ordered by the UK could be enough to reach almost half of the population.

  HOW DOES THE J&J VACCINE WORK? 

  Johnson and Johnson's vaccine is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus).

  The team have modified the adenovirus so it can enter cells but can’t replicate inside them or cause illness.    

  Researchers have already used this technology to produce vaccines against a number of pathogens including flu, Zika and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers). 

  After the J&J vaccine is injected into a person’s arm, the adenoviruses enter human cells and travel to their nuclei, the chamber where the cell’s DNA is stored. 

  The vaccine are programmed to carry the genetic code of the coronavirus's 'spike protein', which Sars-CoV-2 uses to invade the body.

  Iit uses this genetic code to trick the body into mounting an immune response, priming the immune system to attack coronavirus if the real virus infects the body.

  Researchers are now combing through their latest data and could, if it shows the vaccine is effective, file it for approval from UK, US and EU regulators in the coming weeks.

  The chief financial officer of the company, Joseph Wolk, told CNN: 'We're looking by early next week. 

  'The scientific team is going through the final stages of a very robust 45,000-individual study that covered three continents, eight countries.

  'Some of those countries include South Africa and Brazil so as we hear about new strains that presents an opportunity where maybe we'll gain some insights on some of these new strains once the sequencing is done.

  'We're looking at no later than early next week.'  

  Mr Wolk said the company would then seek emergency use authorisation in the same way that other countries including Pfizer, also based in the US, have done, but wouldn't be drawn on when people might start to receive the jabs. 

  Johnson and Johnson has previously said it is ready to ship doses from its factories in Europe as soon as it gets the seal of approval.

  The US firm launched a separate trial of the jab in November to see if it was even better and lasts longer when administered in two doses. That trial is involving 30,000 volunteers around the world, including 6,000 Brits. 

  Sir John Bell, regius professor at Oxford University and an adviser to the UK's Vaccine Taskforce, said earlier this month the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will 'work well' and become available in time for the mid-February target.

  He told The Telegraph: 'I think they will have supplies available for the UK in a time frame that would allow it just to catch the mid-February target of getting the numbers up.

  'I think it may well have a material impact on what we can do in the UK to get more people vaccinated.'

  

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  The UK is vaccinating its population at one of the fastest rates in the world, and has jabbed more than any other country in Europe - leading to heavy criticism of the EU's jab roll-out and accusations of vaccine theft from Brussels

  The approval and delivery of Johnson & Johnson's jab could speed up Britain's vaccination programme, which has had a mixed start.

  It delivered a record 493,000 doses on Saturday but this has since dropped by half to fewer than 300,000 per day on Sunday and Monday.

  UK 'IS ON COURSE TO VACCINATE ALL OVER-50s BY MARCH', SAYS JAB MAKER

  Britain is 'comfortably' on target to vaccinate all over-50s by March and '30million people in weeks', the boss of AstraZeneca has said.

  Pascal Soriot backed the government's decision to delay the second dose of the vaccine and predicted it would allow the inoculation of huge numbers in just weeks.

  Mr Soriot also slammed an 'emotional' European Union over a jabs war that saw Eurocrats accuse the UK of hijacking doses meant for the continent.

  It came as Boris Johnson warned the EU he expected it to honour government contracts for vaccines as a diplomatic row saw senior Brussels figures accused the UK of stealing jabs destined for other countries.

  The UK and the EU were in a tense stand-off last night as continental figures attempted to shift blame for its slovenly rollout of the inoculations in comparison to Britain.

  European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen vowed to make firms declare what vaccines they are exporting to the UK as she scrambled to contain the backlash.

  The commission president said a 'transparency mechanism' is being introduced as she insisted the bloc 'means business' about getting its fair share of supplies.

  But the boss of British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca fired back at EU health chiefs, insisting Brussels was late with its vaccine order.

  Mr Soriot told La Repubblica: 'I have no doubt that the UK has made the right choice thus maximizing the number of people vaccinated, which will reach 28-30million by March.'

  The figure is double the government's current pledge to vaccinate the 15million most vulnerable by February 15 - and would enable the inoculation of almost everyone aged over 50.

  He also told the Italian newspaper that the European Union has only itself to blame for its shambolic vaccine rollout.

  He said the EU deal was struck so late AstraZeneca could only offer to make its 'best efforts' to meet supply targets, rather than a firm guarantee.

  'The reason why we said that is because Europe wanted to be supplied more or less at the same time as the UK, even though the contract was signed three months later. So we said 'OK, we're going to do our best, we're going to try, but we cannot commit contractually because we are three months behind the UK'.To hit its target of 15million people immunised by the middle of February, the UK must be consistently vaccinating at least 400,000 people per day.

  Government ministers have insisted that the country is on track to hit this target and that vaccinations will speed up in February when supply is boosted.

  Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted in a Downing Street press conference on Monday that supply is 'tight' at the moment and manufacturing capacity is the 'limiting' factor on the UK's vaccinations.

  A row has erupted this week over vaccine supplies to Europe and the UK after the EU threatened to block export of the Pfizer jab after it emerged Britain was getting preferential treatment from AstraZeneca.

  German media today rounded on the EU over Europe's vaccine debacle - calling it 'the best advert for Brexit' while blaming chief Ursula von der Leyen for a three-month delay in ordering jabs compared to the UK.

  The EU is acting 'slowly, bureaucratically and protectionist... and if something goes wrong, it's everyone else's fault' fumed a front-page editorial in Die Zeit, one of Germany's best-respected broadsheets.

  Meanwhile Bild tore apart Von Der Leyen's explanation of the vaccine delays and threat to stop supplies heading to the UK line by line, accusing her of placing 'junk' orders for vaccines three months behind Britain.  

  'She says: "We know that there is no time to lose in a pandemic," but what she means is: "We may have wasted time. But we will NEVER admit that"', the paper said. Meanwhile 'Brexit Brits continue to receive full supplies.'

  Both reports quoted an employee for vaccine-maker AstraZeneca, who said: 'I understand Brexit a bit better now.' 

  Britain signed a contract for 300million doses of vaccine in mid-May, he revealed, but it took the EU until August to put pen to paper on the same deal.

  Embarrassingly for the bloc, it appears that Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy had originally been looking to do a deal with AstraZeneca in May alongside the UK - but were blocked by the EU, which insisted it take over negotiations.

  According to ITV's Robert Peston: 'The extra talks with the European Commission led to no material changes to the contract, but wasted time on making arrangements to make the vaccine with partner sites.'

  The delays in producing the vaccine are now thought to be due to under-production at one of those sites, located in Belgium.

  Explaining the delay in more detail, Soriot said the process involves pumping the virus into large vats of live cultures which then generate the vaccine.

  Because the process involves living things and many variables, the exact quantity of product is difficult to predict ahead of time - some vats will produce more, some less, and it takes time and a lot of tweaking to get all of them running at full capacity.

  'A very efficient vaccine factory can produce up to three times the same as a less efficient factory... as happened at one of our European sites,' Soriot added.

  

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  These set of graphs show the number of vaccines ordered by the UK and the EU. The EU has also ordered a number of other vaccines, including 300million Sanofi-GSK doses and 405million CureVac doses

  

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  Faced with growing public anger over the failings, Italy has threatened to sue to get its vaccine doses while Von Der Leyen has ordered AstraZeneca to 'meet your obligations.'

  But, according to Soriot, the company is meeting its obligations because it only signed a 'best effort' deal with the EU - promising to try and achieve 300million vaccines, but with both sides acknowledging that the process might be hit by delays.

  'We are two months behind schedule,' Soriot admitted. 'But we are working to solve these problems.'