Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine could become a two-dose regimen if it proves to provide more protection than one, a White House adviser said Thursday.
“Johnson & Johnson is currently evaluating the performance of the two-dose vaccine – in other words, their own booster,” said Andy Slavitt, senior advisor to the COVID-19 response team. he said in an interview with Washington Post Live.
Pending the results, pending what the FDA has to say if the vaccine is approved first, there could be a second blow to Johnson & Johnson.
The pharmacist announced a large-scale study to test the two-dose regimen in November.
The company said it intends to enroll up to 60,000 participants worldwide for the study, which was conducted in parallel with a single-dose study.
Participants are given either a placebo or an experimental test, currently called Ad26COV2, followed by a second dose or placebo 57 days later.
“The study will evaluate the effectiveness of the investigational vaccine after the first and second doses to assess protection against the virus and the potential incremental benefits during protection with a second dose,” J&J said in a statement.
The company has already applied for the emergency authorization of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, which has been shown to be 66% effective against moderate to severe cases.
If approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it will have to go hand in hand with two-dose rivals Pfizer and Moderna, both of which are more than 90% effective.
With Post threads