Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Company COVID-19 vaccine to provide at least 8 months of immunity and provide adequate protection against the Delta variant, the company said in a statement Thursday, July 1, 2021.

In a statement released, the head of research and development at J&J’s Janssen vaccine division, Dr. Mathai Mammen said, “Current data for the eight months studied so far show that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time. In addition, we observe a persistent and particularly robust, durable cellular immune response.”

Dr. Paul Stoffels, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson, also said that Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine “offers durable protection against COVID-19 and elicits neutralizing activity against the Delta variant”.

“This adds to the robust body of clinical data supporting our single-shot vaccine’s ability to protect against multiple variants of concern,” he added.

Data submitted by Dr. Dan Barouch of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to bioRxiv says that “A single dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generated neutralizing antibodies against a range of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, which increased over time.”

Blood from the vaccinated volunteers was also tested for the virus’s most concerning variations, including the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant first found in India, the B.1.351 or Beta variant first seen in South Africa, and the P.1 or Gamma variant spreading in Brazil.

“We see robust neutralizing antibody coverage of the variant,” Barouch said. Neutralizing antibodies are immune system proteins that render a virus inactive before it has a chance to reproduce.

The single-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson was 85 percent effective against severe/critical disease and demonstrated protection against hospitalization and death in the ENSEMBLE trial.

In November, Johnson & Johnson has announced the start of a second Phase 3 clinical trial to investigate if two doses given two months apart will provide better protection.

The vaccine was consistently effective in all regions studied around the world, including South Africa and Brazil, where rapidly emerging Beta and Zeta (P.2) variants were prevalent during the study period.

What else you need to know about other COVID-19 Vaccines

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies developed the experimental vaccine and served as the regulatory sponsor of the ENSEMBLE Phase 3 clinical trial. The ENSEMBLE trial is part of the government COVID-19 response.

The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is approved for active vaccination to prevent coronavirus illness 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in anyone aged 18 and above in the United States under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

In the United States, the Janssen Pharmaceutical COVID-19 Vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has a 72 percent overall efficacy and an 85 percent efficacy against severe illness.

Meanwhile, Pfizer-BioNTech reports to have a 95 percent effectiveness rate in preventing COVID-19 infection in those who have never been infected.

The vaccination proved similarly effective across a wide range of persons and factors, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, and body mass index (BMI)—or the existence of other medical problems, according to the researchers.

Moderna has a 94.1 percent efficacy rate in avoiding symptomatic infection in persons who have never been infected with COVID-19. In clinical studies, the vaccine proved to have excellent effectiveness across people of all ages, sexes, races, and ethnicities, as well as those with underlying medical problems.

In March, AstraZeneca released an updated data analysis of its phase 3 studies, revealing that the vaccine was 76 percent effective in lowering the chance of symptomatic disease 15 days or more after getting the two doses, and 100 percent effective in preventing severe disease. The vaccination was also found to be 85 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 in persons over 65, according to the firm.

A large phase 3 trial in Brazil found that two doses of Sinovac vaccine, given 14 days apart, had a 51 percent efficacy against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, a 100 percent efficacy against severe COVID-19 infection, and a 100 percent efficacy against hospitalization starting 14 days after the second dose.

Source: https://www.jnj.com/positive-new-data-for-johnson-johnson-single-shot-covid-19-vaccine-on-activity-against-delta-variant-and-long-lasting-durability-of-response