Johnson & Johnson’s long-awaited vaccine appears to protect against COVID-19 with just one shot — not as strong as some two-shot rivals but still potentially helpful for a world in dire need of more doses.
J&J said Friday that in the U.S. and seven other countries, the single-shot vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness, and much more protective — 85% — against the most serious symptoms.
There was some geographic variation. The vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 – compared to 57% in South Africa, where it was up against an easier-to-spread mutated virus.
“Gambling on one dose was certainly worthwhile,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, global research chief for J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical unit, told The Associated Press.
With vaccinations off to a rocky start globally, experts had been counting on a one-dose vaccine that would stretch scarce supplies and avoid the logistics nightmare of getting people to return for boosters.
But with some other competing vaccines shown to be 95% effective after two doses, at question is whether somewhat less protection is an acceptable tradeoff to get more shots in arms quickly.
“Frankly, simple is beautiful,” said Dr. Matt Hepburn of Operation Warp Speed, the U.S. government’s vaccine initiative.
The company said within a week, it will file an application for emergency use in the U.S., and then abroad. It expects to supply 100 million doses to the U.S. by June — and a billion doses globally by the end of the year. J&J wouldn’t say exactly how much could be ready to ship as soon as U.S. authorities give the green light.
These are preliminary findings from a study of 44,000 volunteers that isn’t completed yet. Researchers tracked illnesses starting 28 days after vaccination – about the time when, if participants were getting a two-dose variety instead, they would have needed another shot.
After day 28, no one who got vaccinated needed hospitalization or died regardless of whether they were exposed to “regular COVID or these particularly nasty variants,” Mammen said. When the vaccinated did become infected, they had a milder illness.
Defeating the scourge that has killed more than 2 million people worldwide will require vaccinating billions, and the shots being rolled out in different countries so far all require two doses a few weeks apart for full protection. Early data is mixed on exactly how well all the different kinds work, but shots made by Pfizer and Moderna appear to be about 95% protective after the second dose.
That makes for a dilemma: Wouldn’t people given a choice want a vaccine found to offer much more protection?
J&J’s Mammen said direct comparisons are difficult because the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines weren’t tested when the pandemic was so severe, with record levels of hospitalizations and deaths plus mutant versions of the virus sweeping some countries.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease official, called that a messaging challenge — because the priority is to protect people from hospitalization and death, which J&J’s vaccine appears to do. Especially in places where it’s hard to get people to return for their second dose, the one-dose version could play a key role.
Maybe more important is “a wake-up call” from the study that mutating viruses can challenge vaccines. And the best way to prevent more mutations is “by vaccinating as many people as you possibly can,” Fauci said.
