Top U.S. health official says third COVID-19 vaccine could come next month

This September 2020 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson shows a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the company. Johnson & Johnson is beginning a huge final study to try to prove if the single-dose vaccine can protect against the coronavirus. (Cheryl Gerber/Courtesy of Johnson&Johnson via AP)

WASHINGTON — A third vaccine to stave off COVID-19 could get U.S. approval as early as next month, a top U.S. health official said Sunday, as the second vaccine began shipping out nationwide.

Admiral Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, told ABC News that data was yet to be released on the novel coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson and Janssen, but that if approved it would give the United States its third vaccine following ones from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc.