New Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine ready to fight variants

The single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19, including newer variants, says US Food and Drug Administration.

A healthcare worker holds a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Picture: AFP

The single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19, including newer variants, according to documents released by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Analysis by the FDA based on large clinical trials found that the J&J vaccine was 85.9 per cent effective against severe disease in the US, 81.7 per cent effective in South Africa, and 87.6 per cent in Brazil.

Its overall efficacy including all participants was 66.1 per cent when including moderate forms of the disease. The overall efficacy was higher among US participants in the clinical trial, at 72 per cent. In South Africa, where a highly contagious new variant has emerged, the overall efficacy was lower at 64 per cent but this was still well above other vaccines that have been trialled against the South African variant.

The vaccine is likely to be approved in the US within days as a third vaccine, joining the mRNA vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer. J&J has been contracted by the US to supply 100 million doses of its vaccine.

Australia does not have a contract to buy the J&J vaccine, but the company has applied to the Therapeutic Goods Administration for fast-track approval of its vaccine.

Like the AstraZeneca vaccine, the J&J vaccine uses an adenovirus to help prime the immune system to fight the coronavirus. Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, it does not require super-low-temperature storage.