Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot, not as strong as some two-shot rivals, but it can still be useful for a world that needs more doses. J&J said Friday that in the United States and seven other countries, the single vaccine was 66% effective overall in preventing moderate to severe disease and much more protective (85%) against the most severe symptoms.
There was some geographical variation. The vaccine worked best in the United States (72% efficacy against moderate to severe COVID-19), compared with 57% in South Africa, mutated virus easier to spread.
“The game with a dose was worth it,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, head of global research at J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Unit, told The Associated Press.
With vaccinations being rolled out around the world, experts had a one-dose vaccine that would stretch the scarce supply and avoid the logistical nightmare of getting people to look for boosters again.
But with some other competition vaccines proven to be 95% effective after two doses, it is questionable whether a slightly lower protection is an acceptable compensation for getting more shots in the arms quickly.
The company said it will file an emergency use application in the U.S. and then overseas within a week. It expects to supply 100 million doses to the U.S. in June and hopes to have them ready to ship when authorities give the green light.
These are the preliminary findings of a study of 44,000 volunteers that has not yet been completed. The researchers tracked diseases that began 28 days after vaccination, at about the time when, if participants received a variety of two doses, they would have needed another vaccine.
After day 28, no one who was vaccinated needed hospitalization or died regardless of whether they were exposed to “regular COVID or these particularly unpleasant variants,” Mammen said. When the vaccinators became infected, they had a milder disease.
To overcome the scourge that has killed more than 2 million people worldwide, billions will have to be vaccinated, and the shots that are unfolding in different countries so far require two separate doses a few weeks to complete protection. The first data is mixed exactly on the operation of all the different types, but the plans made by Pfizer i Modern they appear to have 95% protection after the second dose.
But amid the shortage, some countries have advised delaying the second dose of certain vaccines with little data on how this would affect protection.
All COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, usually by detecting the spiked protein that coats it. But they are made in very different ways.
The J&J shot uses a cold virus like a Trojan horse to carry the ear gene to the body, where cells make harmless copies of the protein to prepare the immune system in case the real virus appears. .
Rival AstraZeneca manufactures a similar vaccine against the cold virus that requires two doses. Both AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines can be stored in the refrigerator, making them easier to ship and use in developing countries than frozen ones made by Pfizer and Moderna.
It is not clear exactly how the AstraZeneca version works, which is used in Britain and several other countries. Tests in Britain, South Africa and Brazil suggested that two doses are around 70% effective, although there is little data available on the protection that older adults have, specifically. An ongoing study in the US may provide more information.
J&J said its vaccine works consistently in a wide range of people: one-third of participants were over 60 and more than 40% had other diseases that put them at risk for severe COVID-19, including obesity. , diabetes and HIV.
J&J said the vaccine is safe, with similar reactions to other COVID-19 traits, such as fever, that occur when the immune system boosts.
Although it published few details, the company said there were no serious allergic reactions. But from time to time, other vaccines against COVID-19 trigger these reactions, which can be reversed if treated immediately, and authorities have warned people to be on the lookout regardless of the type of vaccine used. .
J&J had covered its bets with a study of a two-dose version of its vaccine, which is still underway.
Friday’s provisional results come after another vaccine is tested. Novavax reported this week that its vaccine appears to be 89% effective in a UK study and also appears to work, though not as well, against new mutated versions of the virus circulating in Britain and South Africa. A larger study in the U.S. and Mexico is still enrolling volunteers.