Two COVID-19 vaccines are already on the market in the USA Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) he could join the club in the near future with his vaccine. The health care giant filed for emergency use authorization in the U.S. earlier this month. In that Motley Fool Live video recorded on February 1, 2021The Wrap presenter Jason Hall and Motley Fool contributor Keith Speights discuss what is important to know about the J&J COVID vaccine.
Jason Hall: Keith, let’s start talking about the latest coronavirus vaccine news. We have a series of questions to ask and let’s start with this one first, because I can say that it is mine. This is what interests me most.
With Johnson & Johnson, the mega pharmaceutical company recently announced the results of the final phase of the study on its COVID vaccine last week. We saw that the effectiveness was much less. You go from the mid 90s percent of Pfizer, Modern until the mid-60s, for J&J. Can you tell us what that means? Can J&J still gain an emergency use authorization?
Keith Speights: Yes. Well, first of all, absolutely. I really hope that Johnson & Johnson will obtain emergency use authorization for their vaccine. The effectiveness rate was lower than that of Pfizer or Moderna, for sure. You’re right, Pfizer and Moderna were effective in the mid-1990s. Johnson & Johnson showed an overall effectiveness of 66%. This does not look great in comparison.
But there are few things to keep in mind with the J&J vaccine. No. 1, it is a single dose vaccine. They are achieving this after an injection, while Pfizer and Moderna are more effective after two applications. By the way, J&J is also evaluating a two-dose regimen. The results for that will be available later this year.
The main thing to remember is that single dose. This is very important because you get protection a lot faster and this is great. This helps us to obtain collective immunity, and I think it will be a big factor for them to win the USA very soon. The other thing to note with their vaccine is that, in terms of how much it prevented serious cases of COVID, I think it was 85% effective.
Jason Hall: Right. This is huge.
Keith Speights: Yes, this is excellent. I think we may have been a little spoiled.
Jason Hall: I can remember, Keith, that when we started talking about this, the FDA’s expectation was that anything that was 50 percent effective or more would be considered great. We will approve. We have to do something.
Keith Speights: Exactly. I think when Pfizer and Moderna launched 94 percent, 95 percent effectiveness, everyone was thinking, “This is what we should expect.” See, our flu shots are only about 60 percent effective. For a vaccine to have more than 90 percent is excellent, it is impressive.
Jason Hall: Particularly when you start thinking about the people who are most at risk of this being a deadly disease, I think this is very important. In addition, I realized that, if I remember correctly, they provided a little more data that, in the US, effectiveness rates were higher.
Keith Speights: They went. This is another thing to note in the results of J&J. These new variants that we talked about earlier were in the mix of your clinical study to a much more significant degree. We do not even know how much the new variance, if any, was part of the studies by Pfizer, Moderna. Their results were hampered in particular by their studies conducted in South Africa, where the effectiveness was only 57 percent.
Jason Hall: Right.
Keith Speights: But in the USA the effectiveness was 72 percent, which is better than the overall effectiveness. This is a good vaccine. I think it will be on the market soon. I think it will help to make a difference. I think it will help us to obtain collective immunity. Whether in November or next year, whatever the case may be, I think it will be an important vaccine.
Jason Hall: Especially when you consider that it is Johnson & Johnson, in terms of the capacity and scale to deliver a product to the market, it has to be just something that people need to be aware of.
Keith Speights: Right. One interesting thing that most people may not realize about Johnson & Johnson, though, is that they have only one vaccine approved at the moment.
Jason Hall: Wow.
Keith Speights: They have not been big on the vaccine market.
Jason Hall: It is not their thing.
Keith Speights: It is not their thing. They’re getting into it, but historically it hasn’t been their business, but they are so big. They are the largest healthcare company on the planet and, obviously, have the financial resources and technical expertise to reach any area they desire. I am happy that they are using vaccines. I think it’s a good thing.
Jason Hall: Their logistics simply exist on a simple scale. I think it is very, very valuable in that.