Johnson & Johnson JNJ -3.56%
reported that his single-dose vaccine Covid-19 was protected against Covid-19 in a late-stage study and was generally safe and well tolerated. Here’s what we know and don’t know:
How effective is the J&J vaccine?
It seems to work well. The vaccine was 66% effective in a late-stage study of about 44,000 volunteers aged 18 and over, according to the company. This indicates that the shot protects adults from moderate to severe Covid-19 disease, a disease caused by coronavirus. When focused on the specific prevention of severe diseases, the vaccine was even more effective, recording a rate of 85%. By comparison, an annual flu vaccine is considered to work well if it is 60% effective.
How does it compare to the efficiency of Pfizer and Moderna photos?
The Pfizer vaccine Inc.
and partner BioNTech SE was 95% effective in preventing people with Covid-19 in its late-stage study, while the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective. J & J’s image did not work as well in his trial. However, it can be difficult to compare between samples. And the timing of the test could have played a role, as J&J took place while new variants of coronavirus appeared. Vaccines do not seem to work as well against the variant first identified in South Africa in particular. The J&J vaccine was 57% effective in South Africa, compared to 72% in the US during the late stage process. Several vaccines have worked better than health experts say to protect many people and give the community the immunity it needs to move on to a post-pandemic life.
When can the vaccine become available?
J&J says it expects in early February to ask the US Food and Drug Administration to authorize the use of its vaccine. Whether the FDA will take the same amount of time to review and authorize the first two Covid-19 vaccines – about three weeks – could make a decision later in February or early March. J&J did the dosing while testing its fire, so it may be ready to deliver supplies quickly after getting regulatory approval.
What are the side effects of the J&J vaccine?
The most common symptoms after vaccination were fatigue, headache, muscle aches and pain at the injection site in an early study. In the late study, J&J said that a small percentage of subjects had a fever and that there were no severe allergic reactions.
What vaccine should I get?
The first thing you can do, say the health authorities. Individuals may not have much choice due to limited resources, and the vaccination site may provide only one of the photographs. If you have a choice, there are some key differences that can guide your decision. The J&J vaccine, although it seems less effective in studies, is given as a single dose, which may be a more convenient option than the two doses needed for both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, given every three to four weeks. Only the Pfizer vaccine is authorized for adolescents aged 16 to 17 years, while Moderna is authorized for those aged 18 and over. J&J is also likely to be eliminated for adults, as only people 18 years of age and older have been in the company’s large clinical trial.
How has the J&J vaccine been tested?
As of September, J&J has enrolled more than 44,000 adults in the United States and several other countries, including Brazil and South Africa, in a clinical trial. Subjects received a single dose of either a vaccine or a placebo. The researchers counted how many people subsequently contracted moderate to severe Covid-19 starting 14 days after vaccination, until a certain number of people became ill. The researchers then examined whether there were fewer vaccinated people than unvaccinated people among Covid-19 cases.
How does the J&J vaccine work?
The vaccine uses a harmless type of virus, called an adenovirus, which can cause cold symptoms. It is modified to contain the DNA of the so-called spike protein found on the surface of the new coronavirus. Once injected, the adenovirus carries the payload of DNA into human cells. Once in the cells, the payload of the DNA causes the production of the spike protein. This, in turn, triggers an immune response that can later defend against the actual coronavirus if a vaccinated person is exposed to it.
How viral vector vaccines work
Companies such as Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are working on vaccines that are based on a different mechanism of conferring immunity than traditional vaccines.
Traditional vaccines
1. In conventional vaccines, such as those against measles and polio, the patient is inoculated with weakened or inactivated versions of the virus. This triggers the immune system to produce specialized antibodies that are adapted to recognize the virus.
2. After vaccination, the antibodies remain in the body. If the patient later becomes infected with the actual virus, the antibodies can identify him and help neutralize him.
Scientists have isolated the genes in the coronavirus responsible for producing these spike proteins. The genes are combined into weak, harmless versions of other viruses.
Instead of using the whole virus to generate an immune response, these vaccines rely on the external proteins of the coronavirus, which are the antibodies used to recognize the virus.
Virus weakened with
spike protein genes
When injected into a patient, genetically modified viruses enter healthy cells where they produce peak coronavirus proteins.
The spike proteins produced by the cells cause the immune system to mount a defense, just like in the case of traditional vaccines.
Vaccine-generated antibody response
1. In conventional vaccines, such as those against measles and polio, the patient is inoculated with weakened or inactivated versions of the virus. This triggers the immune system to produce specialized antibodies that are adapted to recognize the virus.
2. After vaccination, the antibodies remain in the body. If the patient later becomes infected with the real virus, the antibodies can identify him and help neutralize him.
Scientists have isolated the genes in the coronavirus responsible for producing these spike proteins. The genes are combined into weak, harmless versions of other viruses.
Instead of using the whole virus to generate an immune response, these vaccines rely on the external proteins of the coronavirus, which are the antibodies used to recognize the virus.
Virus weakened with
spike protein genes
When injected into a patient, genetically modified viruses enter healthy cells where they produce peak coronavirus proteins.
The spike proteins produced by the cells cause the immune system to mount a defense, just like in the case of traditional vaccines.
Vaccine-generated antibody response
1. In conventional vaccines, such as those against measles and polio, the patient is inoculated with weakened or inactivated versions of the virus. This triggers the immune system to produce specialized antibodies that are adapted to recognize the virus.
2. After vaccination, the antibodies remain in the body. If the patient later becomes infected with the actual virus, the antibodies can identify him and help neutralize him.
Scientists have isolated the genes in the coronavirus responsible for producing these spike proteins. The genes are combined into weak, harmless versions of other viruses.
Instead of using the whole virus to generate an immune response, these vaccines rely on the external proteins of the coronavirus, which are the antibodies used to recognize the virus.
Virus weakened with
spike protein genes
When injected into a patient, genetically modified viruses enter healthy cells where they produce peak coronavirus proteins.
The spike proteins produced by the cells cause the immune system to mount a defense, just like in the case of traditional vaccines.
Vaccine-generated antibody response
1. In conventional vaccines, such as those against measles and polio, the patient is inoculated with weakened or inactivated versions of the virus. This triggers the immune system to produce specialized antibodies that are adapted to recognize the virus.
2. After vaccination, the antibodies remain in the body. If the patient later becomes infected with the actual virus, the antibodies can identify him and help neutralize him.
Instead of using the whole virus to generate an immune response, these vaccines rely on the external proteins of the coronavirus, which are the antibodies used to recognize the virus.
Scientists have isolated the coronavirus genes responsible for producing them
protein spike. The genes are combined into weak, harmless versions of other viruses.
Virus weakened with
spike protein genes
When injected into a patient, genetically modified viruses enter healthy cells where they produce peak coronavirus proteins.
The spike proteins produced by the cells cause the immune system to mount a defense, just like in the case of traditional vaccines.
Vaccine-generated antibody response
What do we not know about the J&J vaccine?
We do not know its safety and effectiveness in children or pregnant women, fetuses or breastfeeding babies. We also do not know how long the protection against the vaccine will last. The company conducts a separate test study if the addition of a second dose improves its performance.
Does the J&J vaccine protect against new coronavirus strains?
The vaccine has been less effective in South Africa and Latin America than in the United States. This could be a sign that the vaccine is less protective against strains circulating in those regions, although J&J is still conducting this analysis. Even at a lower level of efficacy in South Africa and Latin America, health experts say, the J&J vaccine works well. The company said it was working on a South African version of the vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said current Covid-19 vaccines should continue to be effective against new variants of the virus, and the US could address a “degree of normalcy” by the fall if most much of the country is vaccinated by summer. Photo: Al Drago / Zuma Press
Write to Peter Loftus at [email protected]
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