Highly effective J&J vaccine against Delta variant in South African trial

Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective in preventing serious illness and death from the Delta variant, according to data released Friday in a clinical trial in South Africa.

The results of the trial of nearly 480,000 healthcare workers mark the first real-world test of J & J’s single-dose vaccine against the Delta variant and support a small lab study released last month by the company showing that the single dose vaccine provides good protection against the highly contagious virus. stump.

The South African study, known as the Sisonke, found that the J&J vaccine was up to 71% effective against hospitalization of the Delta variant, 67% against hospitalization of the Beta variant and up to ‘to 96% against death, according to a presentation of the results Friday. The data has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal.

“The vaccine works very well in South Africa and protects against serious illness and death. All of the immune responses that we have observed indicate a good, immediate and sustained immune response against Delta and we are seeing a surprising durability of the immune response of up to eight months, ”said Dr Glenda Gray, one of the main researchers of the study.

The findings are likely to fuel an ongoing debate over booster doses, in the context of another study suggesting that the J&J vaccine may not offer strong protection against the Delta variant. The San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center said earlier this week that they would offer booster doses from Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE or Moderna Inc. to people who received the single dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. .