Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson requested emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA plans to meet Friday to discuss granting this request.
The vaccine only requires basic refrigeration and is only one dose, making it much easier to distribute and administer.
If approved, it will be the third COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.
The vaccine has a “favorable safety profile with no specific safety concerns,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in briefing documents released Wednesday.
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% of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
The news that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was less effective than the two shot Moderna and Pfizer vaccines was seen as a letdown by some, but scientists and doctors alike say vaccines shoot for 50% effectiveness and this vaccine goes beyond the mark.
READ: Explained: How the Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines differ
“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 Moderna ... 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.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the vaccine’s clinical trials were “very effective in preventing hospitalization and mortality.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses DNA. It’s what doctors refer to as a vector vaccine.
The DNA sits in the shell of a harmless virus that can’t make the patient sick.
“It’s called adenovirus ... it normally causes common colds,” said Dr. Michael Teng of USF Health. “So basically what you’re using is just the outside shell of it as the delivery system.”
Then, the body converts the DNA to mRNA, creating the proteins that trigger an immune response.
Johnson & Johnson said they will possibly have 4 million doses ready to ship immediately after approval and 20 million doses produced by the end of March.
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Cox Media Group
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