March 11 (Reuters) – The European Union’s drugs regulator on Thursday recommended conditionally approving Johnson & Johnson’s single dose COVID-19 vaccine, as the bloc seeks to speed up a stuttering inoculation campaign and boost its supplies of vaccines.

The COVID-19 shot is the fourth to be endorsed for use in the EU after vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech , AstraZeneca-Oxford University and Moderna, and is recommended for those over 18 years of age, the European Medicines agency (EMA) said.

The United States, Canada and Bahrain have also approved the shot. South Africa is carrying out an expedited review.

(Reporting by Muvija M and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Editing by Kevin Liffey Editing by Josephine Mason and Mark Potter)

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