Healthcare company Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) said on Tuesday that its Janssen Pharmaceutica NV subsidiary will supply up to 220 million doses of its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine candidate to African Union's 55 member states in the third quarter of 2021 under an agreement with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT).

In conjunction with the agreement, AVAT has the potential to order another 180 million JNJ doses for a combined total of up to 400 million doses through 2022. The availability of the vaccine candidate is subject to approval by the national regulatory authorities of AU member states.

Based on the data from the Phase 3 ENSEMBLE study, Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated a 67% reduction in symptomatic COVID-19 disease in participants. The vaccine was 85% effective in preventing severe disease across all regions studied and showed protection against COVID-19 related hospitalization and death across countries with different variants, beginning 28 days after vaccination. The variants observed included the B.1.351 variant that was identified in 95% of the COVID-19 cases in South Africa.

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 single-shot vaccine is compatible with standard vaccine storage and distribution channels enabling delivery to remote areas. The vaccine is estimated to remain stable for two years at -25 to -15°C, a maximum of three months of which can be at routine refrigeration at temperatures of 2°-8°C. This enables the vaccine to be shipped using cold chain technologies.

According to the company, the COVID-19 vaccine uses the AdVac vaccine platform, a proprietary technology that was also used to develop and manufacture its European Commission-approved Ebola vaccine regimen and construct its investigational Zika, RSV and HIV vaccines.