US advisers endorse single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson
Posted February 26, 2021 5:25 pm.
Last Updated February 26, 2021 8:14 pm.
U.S. health advisers endorsed a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson on Friday, putting the nation on the cusp of adding an easier-to-use option to fight the pandemic.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to quickly follow the recommendation and make J&J’s shot the third vaccine authorized for emergency use in the U.S.
Vaccinations are picking up speed, but new supplies are urgently needed to stay ahead of a mutating virus that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.
After daylong discussions, the FDA panelists voted unanimously that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks for adults. If the FDA agrees, shipments of a few million doses could begin as early as Monday.
RELATED: Health Canada approves AstraZeneca vaccine
More than 47 million people in the U.S., or 14 percent of the population, have received at least one shot of the two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which FDA authorized in December. But the pace of vaccinations has been strained by limited supplies and delays due to winter storms.
While early J&J supplies will be small, the company has said it can deliver 20 million doses by the end of March and a total of 100 million by the end of June.
J&J’s vaccine protects against the worst effects of COVID-19 after one shot, and it can be stored up to three months at refrigerator temperatures, making it easier to handle than the previous vaccines, which must be frozen.
One challenge in rolling out the new vaccine will be explaining how protective the J&J shot is after the astounding success of the first U.S. vaccines.
The two-dose Pfizer and Moderna shots were found to be about 95% effective against symptomatic COVID-19. The numbers from J&J’s study are not that high, but it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
RELATED: Breakdown – Who have provinces pegged to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks?
One dose of the J&J vaccine was 85 percent protective against the most severe COVID-19. After adding in moderate cases, the total effectiveness dropped to about 66 percent.
Some experts fear that lower number could feed public perceptions that J&J’s shot is a “second-tier vaccine.” But the difference in protection reflects when and where J&J conducted its studies.
J&J’s vaccine was tested in the U.S., Latin America, and South Africa at a time when more contagious mutated versions of the virus were spreading.
That wasn’t the case last fall when Pfizer and Moderna were wrapping up testing, and it’s not clear if their numbers would hold against the most worrisome of those variants.
On Sunday, a CDC panel is expected to meet to recommend how to best prioritize the use of the J&J vaccine.
Other parts of the world already are facing which-is-best challenges.
Italy’s main teachers’ union recently protested when the government decided to reserve Pfizer and Moderna shots for the elderly and designate AstraZeneca’s vaccine for younger, at-risk workers. AstraZeneca’s vaccine was deemed to be about 70 percent effective in testing.
Canada became the latest country Friday to allow the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, and with the J&J vaccine nearing approval in the United States, it could be approved in Canada soon.
