Johnson & Johnson announced that a booster dose of its vaccine boosts protection against the coronavirus by nine

Booster dose of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine significantly increased antibody levels, according to provisional data from two preliminary tests announced by the company on Wednesday.

The application of the second injection has been made between six and eight months after the first. People who received a reminder saw that binding antibodies increased nine times over 28 days after the first injectionthe company said in a press release.

Unlike neutralizing antibodies, which destroy the virus, binding antibody they adhere to the virus but do not destroy it or prevent infection. In exchange, They alert the immune system to its presence so that white blood cells can be sent to destroy it.

Several countries, including the United States, have started offering booster doses to vulnerable people, including the immunocompromised, because the Delta variant it has spread and some people who have been vaccinated have become infected.

The data comes from two Phase 2 studies conducted in the United States and Europe. Several of the approximately 2,000 people in the studies received booster doses six months after their first doses of the J&J vaccine.

So far, there was no evidence of the effect of a booster dose of the J&J vaccine. Counselors from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were awaiting news on how to counsel immunocompromised people who have received the J&J vaccine.

Segun J&J, The studies showed significant increases in binding antibody responses in participants aged 18 to 55 and in those aged 65 and older who received a lower booster dose.

Study summaries are sent to the prepress server MedRxiv before peer review.

The results were published before the long-awaited results of J & J’s large two-dose vaccine trial. A spokesperson said those results will be available in the coming weeks.

In July, J&J released interim phase 1 / 2a data in the New England Journal of Medicine which showed that The neutralizing antibodies generated by his vaccine remained stable for eight months after single dose immunization.

“With this new data, we also see that a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine further increases antibody responses in study participants who had previously received our vaccine.”Mathai Mammen, head of research and development at J & J’s Janssen pharmaceutical division, said in a statement.

“We look forward to discussing with public health officials a potential strategy for our Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, potentiation eight months or more after the primary single dose vaccination “added.

Several scientists have expressed concern that people who received the J&J injection would need boosters. A study by a team at New York University found that a “significant fraction” of blood samples from recipients injected with J&J had weak neutralizing antibodies against Delta and several other variants of the coronavirus.

J&J said the company is working with the CDC, the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, the World Health Organization and other health authorities to administer a booster with the Johnson vaccine. Johnson COVID-19.

Due to its one-dose convenience and less burdensome storage and shipping requirements, the J&J injection was first touted as an important tool for vaccination campaigns in hard-to-reach areas. But after some safety issues and some manufacturing issues, tIt has the lowest acceptance in Europe of any vaccine approved for use, and it has also struggled to gain traction in the United States.

(With information from Reuters)

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