A booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine received two months after the first strengthens protection against moderate illness and severe disease caused by the virus, the pharma company claims as quoted by Politico.
The pharma giant’s late-stage clinical trial showed that 75% protection the single-dose vaccine showed against moderate and severe disease caused by the coronavirus – confirmed globally- increased to 94% in the United States, where just under 15 million people have gotten the J&J Covid-19 shot, after the booster shot
The company found that giving a booster shot six months after the first dose also produced a twelvefold higher antibody level, noting that the booster data has not been peer-reviewed yet or published in a scientific journal.
Mathai Mammen, the global head of research and development at J&J’s Janssen subsidiary, underlined that J&J single-shot jab generates strong immune responses and long-lasting immune memory. He said that company’s Phase 3 trial data further confirms protection against COVID- related death.
The company has provided available data to the FDA and has announced plans to submit the data to other regulators like the WHO and National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups.
Yet, several independent researchers noted that Johnson & Johnson’s study with 17 volunteers was relatively small to count and appears it didn’t tested if the increased antibodies would necessarily translate into increased protection in the real world.
Johnson & Johnson’s data comes in light of the federal government vaccine mandate’s efforts and deliberations over when and how to roll out Covid-19 booster shots.
Biden administration backed a plan last month to roll out booster shots broadly to most adults starting late September, prompting fierce pushback from health arguing argued there’s no sufficient data to justify a broad booster campaign.
FDA further heated the debate on Friday when its vaccine advisory committee refused to allow Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 booster to be used in people over 16, approving only the Pfizer-BioNTech booster to people over 65 and those at high-risk of severe disease.
Be the first to comment