- Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus candidate vaccine may prevent COVID-19 complications and death, as the Phase 3 study concluded.
- The drugs require a single shot and can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures. But the J&J COVID-19 vaccine is not as effective as the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna mRNA drugs, which can be seen as a drawback.
- Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview that these comparisons do more harm than good, explaining that this particular vaccine is so important.
Johnson & Johnson announced the results of its phase 3 study of the coronavirus vaccine on Friday, revealing to the world that the drug can prevent severe COVID-19 that leads to hospitalization and death. The vaccine is safe to use and had no serious side effects in the large phase 3 study. The company also said the drug will work against the B.1.351 South African mutation, the only new strain of coronavirus that has been shown to evade some drugs already in use.
J & J’s vaccine has a number of advantages that make it unique from the competition. It uses a single regimen, with this candidate vaccine being the only one that does not require a booster shot three to four weeks after the first shot. Unlike the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can also be viewed at normal refrigeration temperatures, meaning the logistics of transporting and storing the vaccine will not be as complex.
The Johnson & Johnson candidate does not offer efficacy to match the Moderna and BioNTech drugs. But that shouldn’t be a problem at all, said Dr. Anthony Fauci in an interview explaining why the new vaccine is so important to the management of COVID-19 in the US and other countries.
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Fauci told CNN Friday that the J&J candidate and the others will ease the pressure on the US health care system. “If we can alleviate that, it’s really important – not just for this candidate, but for the others who have already received the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA),” he said.
Dr. Fauci pointed out the drug’s obvious benefits. “A vaccine that is inexpensive is a single dose and has no cold chain requirements – that’s pretty good,” Fauci said, addressing the “elephant” in the room.
The drug’s efficacy – 66% worldwide and 85% effective against serious diseases – pales in comparison to the 95% efficacy achieved by the Pfizer and Moderna drug. Fauci pointed out that the J&J results would look even better without the obvious comparison.
‘Do you know what the problem is? If this were there and we didn’t have the Moderna 94-95%…. We would have said wow, a 72% effective vaccine that is even more effective against serious diseases is really great, ”said Fauci. “But now we always rate it at 94 to 95%. That said, this is a vaccine that can be used, especially in developing countries, to keep people out of the hospital. It has very good efficacy against serious diseases. “
The drug was 72% in the group of US Phase 3 trial volunteers.
In the months leading up to the EUA received by the Pfizer and Moderna drugs, Fauci and other health experts said they hoped the vaccine effectiveness would reach 75%, saying the higher the figure, the better it would be. The FDA’s threshold for emergency approval was set at 50%. The effectiveness of the flu vaccine fluctuates due to the highly mutagenic nature of the various viruses that cause influenza, with the 2019 drug version being only 45% effective. However, the flu has other effective therapies that reduce the risk of death – not just a vaccine.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has another immediate advantage over the others. The phase 3 study involved patients infected with at least one of the troubling new strains. These are more contagious and the South African strain is the only one that can evade antibodies against the coronavirus. It is unclear how effective the other vaccines against this strain are, with the J&J drug showing 57% efficacy in South Africa, where 95% of the COVID-19 cases in the study were caused by B.1.351.
Fauci went further into efficacy comparisons and also noted that Jonson & Johnson was investigating a two-dose regimen. The company plans to see if a two-step treatment can further increase efficacy. Let’s see what that shows. It could potentially go up to 90%, ”said the health expert. “Heck, if you got 72 on a single dose, you’d think you’d do pretty well with a boost.”
The US government already has a contract to purchase 100 million vaccine doses from Johnson & Johnson. The FDA’s EUA decision should be announced in late February.
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Chris Smith started writing about gadgets as a hobby and before he knew it, he shared his thoughts on tech matters with readers around the world. If he doesn’t write about gadgets, he sadly fails to stay away from them, although he desperately tries. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.