Johnson & Johnson vaccine effective against delta COVID-19 variant
Johnson & Johnson has announced that data from eight months study have shown that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the highly contagious Delta variant.
In a news release, the company said that data from the study “demonstrated its single-shot COVID-19 vaccine generated strong, persistent activity against the rapidly spreading Delta variant and other highly prevalent SARS-CoV-2 viral variants.”
In addition, the data showed that the durability of the immune response lasted through at least eight months, the length of time evaluated to date.
“We believe that our vaccine offers durable protection against COVID-19 and elicits neutralizing activity against the Delta variant,” said the Vice-Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson, Paul Stoffels.
He observed that the result of the study adds to the robust body of clinical data supporting the company’s single-shot vaccine’s ability to protect against multiple variants of concern.
Adding to this, the Global Head, Janssen Research and Development, Johnson & Johnson, Dr Mathai Mammen, said, “We observe a persistent and particularly robust, durable cellular immune response.”
She added, “With each new dataset, we build on our solid foundation of evidence that our single-shot COVID-19 vaccine plays a critical role in ending the pandemic, which continues to evolve and pose new challenges to global health.”
The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine works well against the Delta variant that now dominates new infections in South Africa, the head of the country’s Medical Research Council, Glenda Gray, said on Friday, July 2.
“All the data that we see indicate good immediate and sustained immune response against Delta, and we see surprising durability in the immune response for the single-dose J&J right up to eight months,” she said at a news conference.
The delta variant of the COVID-19 is now rife in Europe and has spread worldwide since initially being identified in India.
With the vaccine showing about 85% efficacy, it is believed that it could prevent serious illness and hospitalization.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that, globally, as of 11:00 a.m Central European Summer Time (CEST), 2 July 2021, there have been 182,101,209 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,950,876 deaths.
The organisation also reports that, as of 1 July 2021, 2,950,104,812 vaccine doses have been administered.
COVID-19 has affected 220 countries and territories, with the United States of America, India and Brazil being the three countries with higher cases.