The J&J vaccine is added to the COVID-19 armory and includes a South African variant

(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson said Friday that its single-dose vaccine was 66% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a major global trial against multiple variants, which gave health officials another weapon to fight pandemic.

In the trial of about 44,000 volunteers, the level of protection against moderate and severe COVID-19 ranged from 72% in the United States, to 66% in Latin America, and only 57% in South Africa, where ‘has spread a worrying variant.

The data showed that the effect of the vaccine on the South African variant was reduced compared to the unaltered virus, but infectious disease and public health experts said it could still help contain the spread of the virus. and prevent death.

Data from Novavax’s mid-phase trials on Thursday also documented lower effectiveness in South Africa.

Rival shots from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna were about 95% effective in preventing symptomatic disease in fundamental trials when administered in two doses.

These trials were conducted primarily in the United States and before the advent of new variants. This means that the world is running against the flow and with limited supplies to vaccinate as many people as possible and quickly, to prevent virus outbreaks.

COVID-19 is increasing in 37 countries and infections have exceeded 101 million worldwide.

Leading U.S. infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci said the world needs to be vaccinated quickly to try to anticipate these changes in the virus.

“It’s really a wake-up call for us to be agile and able to adjust, as this virus will continue to evolve,” Fauci said.

The main goal of J&J was to prevent moderate to severe COVID-19 and the vaccine was 85% effective in stopping the serious disease and preventing hospitalization in all geographies and against multiple variants 28 days after vaccination.

This “will potentially protect hundreds of millions of people from the serious and deadly results of COVID-19,” said Paul Stoffels, chief scientist at J&J.

Shares of J&J fell 4% to $ 162.7 at 5pm GMT, and some Wall Street analysts said the vaccine’s effectiveness was lower than that of rivals. Shares of Moderna rose 8% to $ 172.80.

SEEKING APPROVAL

J&J plans to apply for emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week and will soon follow up with the European Union and the rest of the world.

He said he plans to administer 1 billion doses of the vaccine, which he will produce in the United States, Europe, South Africa and India by 2021.

Public health officials are counting on this to increase much-needed supply and simplify vaccination in the United States, which has an agreement to buy 100 million doses of J&J vaccine and an option for an additional 200 million.

J&J said the vaccine would be ready immediately after emergency approval, but Stoffels declined to say how many doses.

“The key is not just overall effectiveness, but specifically effectiveness against serious illness, hospitalization, and death,” said Walid Gellad, an associate professor of health policy at the University of Pittsburgh.

The J&J vaccine uses a common cold virus to introduce coronavirus proteins into cells and elicit an immune response, while the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use a new technology called messenger RNA.

Unlike these vaccines, J&Js do not require a second shot weeks after the first nor do they need to be kept frozen, making it a strong candidate for use in parts of the world where transportation and cold storage present problems.

“Most countries are still desperate to get the doses, regardless of whether the vaccine is considered effective or not. Moderately effective will work very well for now,” said Michael Breen, director of infectious diseases and ophthalmology at research firm GlobalData.

‘CRUSHED’

This month, several studies have emerged that show that a South African variant has mutated into areas of the virus that are key targets for vaccines, reducing their effectiveness.

“What we’re learning is that there’s a different effectiveness in different parts of the world,” Stoffels told Reuters.

In a sub-study of 6,000 volunteers in South Africa, Stoffels said, the J&J vaccine was 89% effective in preventing serious illness. In the South African part of the trial, 95% of the cases were infections with the South African variant.

“I am overwhelmed by the fact that this vaccine protects against serious diseases even in South Africa,” said Glenda Gray, lead joint researcher on the South African vaccine trial.

In the J&J trial, which took place in eight countries, 44% of participants were from the United States, 41% from Central and South America, and 15% from South Africa. Just over a third of the volunteers were over 60 years old.