Participants who received the unique Johnson & Johnson vaccine in a first study developed coronavirus immunity for at least 71 days, but a delay in production could mean a deployment of lower-than-promised doses, New York reported Wednesday. Times.
Why it’s important: If approved, the J&J vaccine would be the first available to protect against COVID with a single dose, streamlining the administration and distribution of the vaccine.
The big picture: The U.S. government signed a $ 1 billion contract with J&J last August. The pharmaceutical company promised that 12 million doses of its vaccine would be ready for deployment by the end of this February and a total of 100 million doses by the end of June.
- J&J has fallen behind by up to two months and will probably not catch up until the end of April, the Times reports.
- This could lead to a shortage of doses once spring arrives; the federal government has only secured enough to vaccinate 200 million of the approximately 260 million eligible adults during the first half of 2021.
Yes, but: The J&J vaccine, which results in the development of neutralizing antibodies, is durable and does not require freezing, such as the features of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, by Bloomberg.
- The J&J vaccine can be stored at refrigerator temperature for three months.
What they say: “The pandemic is showing no signs of slowing down, and we, like everyone else, want more tools to help stop it,” J&J said in a statement to Axios.
- “We have begun producing our vaccine candidate and are confident in our ability to meet our 2021 supply commitments signed with governments and look forward to sharing more details after achieving some of these steps.”
What to see: The results of a trial in the final phase of 45,000 volunteers will provide more data in the coming weeks, but the company predicts a high efficiency rate of 70% or more, scientific director Paul Stoffels told Bloomberg.
- J&J also began a separate study in the final phase of its two-dose vaccination process in November and expects data this summer.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the Johnson & Johnson statement.