ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Johnson & Johnson has requested emergency use authorization from the FDA, but it’ll be about three weeks to find out if it’ll get the green light.
The vaccine only requires basic refrigeration and is only one dose, making it much easier to distribute and administer.
“Johnson & Johnson, this one dose -- that’s going to be a game-changer,” Orange County Health Officer Dr. Raul Pino said.
READ: Johnson & Johnson seeks emergency authorization from FDA for COVID-19 vaccine
The FDA plans to meet for emergency use authorization on Feb. 26.
If approved, it’ll be the third COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.
A global study of nearly 44,000 people found Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe disease. In just the U.S., the efficacy rate was higher, at 72%, but not the 95% as with Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
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“Those trials were done before we started having these new variants that are circulating around,” said Dr. Dena Grayson, infectious disease expert. “And Pfizer and Madeira ... set the bar pretty high. But remember, that’s two shots. And I think that if you got two shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, again, the chances are pretty good that it would perform even better.”
While Moderna and Pfizer use genetic material called messenger RNA to teach the immune system to fight off the virus that causes COVID-19, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine uses an inactivated common cold virus.
“Overall, these vaccines are very safe, well-tolerated and highly effective,” Grayson said. “So I think (it’s) great news for Americans. We all want to get back to our normal life in the post-vaccination era.”
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Cox Media Group
