Johnson & Johnson Single Dose COVID-19 Vaccine Less Effective Against Delta Variant

The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is less effective against the Indian variant of the “Delta” coronavirus than other vaccines, a new study suggests.

The researchers found that the antibody levels of people who received the single-dose vaccine were twice as low as those who received the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that the 13 million Americans who have received J&J will need boosters to protect against highly infectious variants.

It comes as Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Work and Pensions on Wednesday that the variant accounts for 83% of all new cases.

The results are another setback for J&J’s vaccine, which has been hampered by breaks, ingredient mixes, federal health warnings and doses needing to be thrown away.

Antibody levels in people who received Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine were low against the Indian variant of the ‘Delta’ coronavirus. Pictured: Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccines are seen on a table in Los Angeles, May 2021

“The message we wanted to get across was not that people shouldn’t be getting the J. & J. vaccine, but hopefully in the future it will be boosted with another dose of J&J or a boost with Pfizer or Moderna, ”lead author Dr. Nathaniel Landau, Grossman virologist, told The New York Times. NYU School of Medicine.

For the study, which was not peer-reviewed, the researchers looked at blood samples from 27 patients.

Of the group, 17 people had been immunized with two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and 10 people with one dose of the J&J vaccine.

The researchers found that antibody levels in J&J patients were five to seven times lower when exposed to the Delta variant.

Comparatively, the levels in Pfizer and Moderna patients were three times lower.

The results are in line with a British study, which found that the AstraZeneca vaccine – which is made with the same technology as the J&J vaccine – is 33% effective against symptomatic disease caused by Delta.

In actual studies, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been shown to be more effective against the Delta variant.

A May analysis from Public Health England found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 80% effective overall in preventing infection with the variant.

The vaccine was also 88 percent effective against symptomatic illnesses and 96 percent against hospitalization.

Meanwhile, a Canadian study found the Moderna vaccine to be 72 percent effective against Delta variant infection.

There are few studies on the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing death, but a recent study in India – where the variant originated – found that only 0.4% of those vaccinated died from the virus.

Seema Kumar, spokesperson for J&J, told The Times that the data from the NYU study “does not speak to the full nature of immune protection.”

She added that studies sponsored by the company showed that its vaccine “generates strong and persistent activity against the rapidly spreading Delta variant.”

This is breaking news and will be updated.