A recent analysis by U.S. regulators shows a promising result on Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) single-dose vaccine which offers strong protection against severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists confirmed that overall the vaccine is about 66% effective at preventing moderate-to-severe COVID-19 symptoms and about 85 per cent effective against the most serious illness.
This analysis is one step in the FDA’s evaluation.
The agency’s independent advisers will debate on Friday if the evidence is strong enough to recommend the shot.
The FDA is yet to come up with a final decision within days.
So how effective is the vaccine?
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, is part of the FDA advisory panel that will scrutinize the J&J data on Friday.
Offit said he was encouraged with the one dose of the J&J vaccine that prevent an individual from going to hospital.
J&J conducted a test in 44,000 adults in the U.S., Latin America and South Africa.
Across all countries, the analysis of the J&J vaccine showed protection began to emerge about 14 days after vaccination.
After 28 days since the vaccination, there were no reported hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccinated group compared with 16 hospitalizations and seven deaths in study recipients who received a dummy shot.
FDA said effectiveness and safety were consistent across racial groups including Black and Latino participants.
