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Johnson & Johnson released its clinical data on Friday, showing that its Covid-19 vaccine was 66% effective against the new virus and 85% effective against serious illness.
The company said it will now seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making it the third company to do so during the pandemic.
This vaccine was manufactured in collaboration with Belgium-based J&J vaccine division Janssen Pharmaceutical and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Instead of requiring two doses, like both the Pfizer vaccine and Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, it only takes one injection to elicit its immune response.
Pfizer, by comparison, was found to be 95% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19, while Moderna was 94.1% effective. This efficacy was achieved after the second dose of each vaccine.
Although Johnson & Johnson’s global clinical trial shows lower efficacy against the new virus compared to the other two available in the United States, experts still call the results a “game changer.”
What does Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine mean?
Data from clinical studies showed that the vaccine was 66% effective against the virus as a whole. This efficiency increased to 72% in the United States, but was lower in South Africa, where a highly transmissible variant invaded the country, with only 57% efficiency.
People analyzing this data might conclude that they do not want the vaccine due to the lower overall efficacy compared to other available options.
But Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes for Allergy and Infectious Disease, said a key indicator that people should pay attention to from Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was its impact on serious illnesses caused by Covid-19.
“The overall effectiveness for serious illness was 85 percent,” he said during a White House press briefing on Covid on Friday. “There were essentially no hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccine group, while there were in the placebo group. We have a value-added vaccine candidate. “
Dr Fauci called the results “very encouraging”.
The immune response has also been shown to increase over time with vaccines, so the effectiveness against Covid-19 after someone receives the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could increase over a period of several months.
Dr Michael Osterholm, a senior epidemiologist at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, reiterated the point in an interview with CNN on Friday about the results of new vaccine trials.
“If I was in the mainstream right now, my first reaction would be, I want the one that protects me the most. You know, we haven’t really done a good job, I think, of explaining to the public that the immune response that occurs with the vaccine sometimes takes months to mature, ”he told CNN.
The current results of the Johnson & Johnson clinical trials “are really what happened within two months of receiving the last dose,” he said.
The human phase of clinical trials for a vaccine normally takes two years for scientists to determine the treatment’s full effectiveness. This process has been expedited with the FDA providing emergency use authorization to vaccine manufacturers due to the severity of the pandemic.
“In fact, if we had followed this for several more months, it might have been an equal, if not better, vaccine than what we see with Moderna and Pfizer,” Dr Osterholm said of Johnson’s vaccine trial. & Johnson.
The company also has a separate trial that is currently looking at the effectiveness of two doses compared to injecting it at a current dose. Depending on the results, people may be recommended later to receive a second dose that would improve their response against the new virus.
What are the additional benefits of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine on the market?
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot compared to the two doses required by other vaccine companies. This means that more people could be vaccinated faster and with fewer doses.
“A vaccine that is effective at a dose and easy to transport is huge,” tweeted statistician Natalie Dean,
The vaccine also requires cold storage conditions, making it easier for countries to access and handle vials.
It can be stored in a refrigerator for up to three months between 36 and 46 degrees F, the company said in its press release. Pfizer, in comparison, needs a special freezer for its vaccine and dry ice during transport.
Experts said that keeping the Johnson & Johnson vaccine cold would make it easier to ship doses to developing countries than what Pfizer currently needs, given the ease of transfer and storage.
“In other words, we could bring the vaccine to people,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist, told CNN, “rather than bringing people to the vaccine.”
Vaccinating the United States was one thing. But the global pandemic is unlikely to end until the vast majority of the world achieves herd immunity, either naturally or through vaccination. This was due to the virus mutating into other highly transmissible variants, including one found in the UK and one in South Africa.
“Large epidemics anywhere can give rise to variants that can escape vaccines everywhere,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, explained in a tweet.
If the variants continue to occur while many remain without access to a vaccine, a mutation could form that would work against the injections currently being developed. This would require scientists to then update their vaccines and give anyone who has ever received a vaccine a new or a “booster.”
“This is the nightmarish scenario of an endless pandemic,” said Dr Jha.
Another benefit of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine? The company has the manufacturing capacity to “create doses in the billions,” said Dr. Fauci. “This has great potential and real implications at the national and global levels.”
Could someone get a second dose of a different vaccine?
The question remains unknown as research continues to develop on the effectiveness of different vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently said it would allow people to receive a second dose of a different vaccine under extreme circumstances – such as if they forget which company gave them their first dose or if they couldn’t access for a second. dose of the original company. But that allowance only applied to Pfizer and Moderna, both of which are mRNA vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, by comparison, was slightly different in its approach to developing an immune response to the new virus.
The company’s clinical trial of the effectiveness of a second dose, however, could mean that a person who received one dose initially may have to return later for a second dose of that same vaccine. This would be the case if clinical trials showed a stronger immune response to a two-dose method.
However, many experts have come to a consensus that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at its current stage is a good option for people if the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is not available.
“We’re going to learn a lot about these vaccines over the next three to six months,” Dr. Osterholm told CNN. “We will have to continue to fix this problem. Do not sort to watch security. Don’t sort it out to see if you should get it or not. You understand. But we will constantly re-evaluate it. What’s the best way to protect the most people over time? And it may be that you will receive a booster dose on a regular basis with one or more vaccines. So I know it’s confusing right now, but I think take your first dose now. Protect as many people as possible. “
Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, agreed that the public should want the vaccine if they were given emergency use authorization.
“If that was me, if I couldn’t get the mRNA vaccine and had only the choice of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I guess the data looks good when we look at the FDA. I would take it in a second knowing that there is probably a second dose trial out there which is likely to show that it is even more effective, ”he said.
The US federal government has purchased 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnsons vaccine. The company said it would fill all of those doses in the United States by June if it received emergency use authorization.
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