The Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for an emergency use authorization. Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said people should take the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine if that’s what they are offered. Instead, the J&J vaccine uses a harmless, weakened cold virus to carry instructions into the body to trigger the immune response and a method developed a decade ago and used for an ebola vaccine. Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky is a native Michigander. Testing, efficacyThe Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been tested on nearly 44,000 people in United States, Latin America and South Africa.

The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel unanimously voted Friday afternoon to recommend the Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for an emergency use authorization. For eight hours, the group of independent experts had reviewed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. READ: FDA finds Johnson & Johnson vaccine effectively prevents COVIDWhile the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is less effective than Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, the experts noted that no one who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was hospitalized or died from coronavirus. READ: Here’s what makes J&J vaccine different than the othersAdStudies in children are planned with the older group of children expected to begin receiving the vaccine as soon as early March. There are also additional studies planned in immunocompromised people.

The data that Johnson & Johnson submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for its emergency use authorization was made public Wednesday.

Here’s what to know about the J&J vaccine:The J&J vaccine can be stored in a normal refrigerator unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines -- it’s not a mRNA vaccine. Testing, efficacyThe Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been tested on nearly 44,000 people in United States, Latin America and South Africa. Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit also was one of the clinical sites for the J&J vaccine, so many Metro Detroiters have already received the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson is running an additional trial to test effectiveness of a second dose of its vaccine. AdFeb. 24: FDA says J&J 1-dose shot prevents COVID; final decision soonFeb. 4: Johnson & Johnson asks US regulators to OK its one-shot COVID-19 vaccineMore: Local 4′s Dr. Frank McGeorge answers COVID vaccine questions