Coronavirus: Johnson & Johnson says booster dose of its vaccine prompts strong response
LONDON —
Johnson & Johnson launched knowledge displaying {that a} booster dose to its one-shot coronavirus vaccine gives a robust immune response months after individuals obtain a primary dose.
J&J mentioned in assertion Tuesday that it ran two early research in individuals beforehand given its vaccine and located {that a} second dose produced an elevated antibody response in adults from age 18 to 55. The research’s outcomes have not but been peer-reviewed.
“A booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine additional will increase antibody responses amongst research members who had beforehand obtained our vaccine,” mentioned Dr. Mathai Mammen, international head of analysis and improvement at J&J. The corporate beforehand printed knowledge displaying its one-shot dose offered safety for as much as eight months after immunization.
J&J mentioned it’s now in talks with regulators together with the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Company and others relating to utilizing booster doses of its vaccine.
J&J’s vaccine is accredited to be used within the U.S., throughout Europe and there are plans for not less than 200 million doses to be shared with the UN-backed COVAX effort aimed toward distributing vaccines to poor nations. However the firm has been affected by manufacturing issues and tens of millions of doses made at a troubled manufacturing unit in Baltimore needed to be thrown out.
The J&J vaccine has been thought of important by quite a few well being officers to ending the pandemic as a result of it requires just one shot, however fears concerning the easier-to-spread delta coronavirus variant have prompted quite a few governments to contemplate the usage of booster photographs for a lot of accredited vaccines.
Final week, specialists on the FDA really helpful individuals 65 and older get a 3rd dose of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech whereas Britain beforehand licensed booster photographs for individuals 50 and over along with precedence teams like well being employees and people with underlying well being circumstances. Different nations together with Israel, France and Germany have additionally begun providing third vaccine doses to some individuals.
The World Well being Group has urged wealthy nations to cease administering booster doses till not less than the tip of the 12 months, saying vaccines ought to instantly be redirected to Africa, the place fewer than 4% of the inhabitants is totally immunized. In a paper printed final week within the journal Lancet, prime scientists from the WHO and FDA argued that the common particular person would not want a booster shot and that the licensed vaccines up to now present sturdy safety towards extreme COVID-19, hospitalization and demise.
