Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday that a booster dose of its single-shot COVID-19 substantially boosted protection against symptomatic illness in clinical trials.
A second dose of the vaccine administered about two months after the first was 94% successful at preventing symptomatic illness caused by the virus and substantially increased the vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing severe infection resulting in hospitalization or death.
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“Our single-shot vaccine generates strong immune responses and long-lasting immune memory. And when a booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is given, the strength of protection against COVID-19 further increases,” said Dr. Mathai Mammen, the global head of Janssen Research and Development at Johnson & Johnson.
The company’s report on the phase 3 booster trial results also said that administering the booster six months after the first shot increased antibody levels ninefold after one week and up to twelvefold after four weeks.
“A single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that is easy to use, distribute, and administer and that provides strong and long-lasting protection is crucial to vaccinating the global population,” said Dr. Paul Stoffels, the vice chairman of the Executive Committee and the chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson. “At the same time, we now have generated evidence that a booster shot further increases protection against COVID-19 and is expected to extend the duration of protection significantly.”
The rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, initially estimated to be between 70% and 80% effective against COVID-19, has been bedeviled by supply and regulatory issues, including the March debacle in which 15 million doses were contaminated at a Baltimore manufacturing facility. Then, federal regulators recommended a pause on administering the shots in April, citing a suspected link to a rare type of blood clot.
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Federal officials announced 10 days later that the benefits of the shots far outweigh the risks and administration could continue. But the pause hindered public trust in the vaccine, which was first lauded as an ideal tool for offering protection to people in hard-to-reach areas of the United States, such as very rural areas where access to regular healthcare is limited.
The company submitted its report to the Food and Drug Administration for consideration of approval for a second shot. The Biden administration has touted the benefits of giving booster shots, citing mounting data to show that protection from vaccines begins to wane over time. While the administration pledged over the summer to begin giving boosters by this time, the FDA’s panel of experts expressed misgivings about widely distributing third doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Rather than recommend that all adults get a booster, the panelists agreed that only seniors 65 and older should get extra shots.
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Over 386 million shots have been administered in the U.S. Of those, about 14.5 million received the Johnson & Johnson shot, which has been granted authorization for adults.
