Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that Johnson & Johnson’s new single-dose coronavirus vaccine “looks like a good profile for a vaccine”.
“All in all, it looks like a good profile for a vaccine,” said Gottlieb in CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday, after the first data showed promising results for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “It is an indication that we are likely to have a third competitor here.”
“In short, it looks like a good profile for a vaccine,” says @ScottGottliebMD in previous data from the Johnson & Johnson single dose COVID-19 vaccine. “It is an indication that we are likely to have a third party here.” pic.twitter.com/oFzLQ0PgHV
– Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) January 14, 2021
Gottlieb is on the board of Pfizer, which has produced one of the two vaccines that have already received emergency authorization from the FDA.
Results of the initial Johnson & Johnson vaccine tests were published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. this showed that all trial participants had neutralizing antibodies in their systems after 57 days.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine would allow more vaccines to be dispersed and would require only one injection, while the current COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna require two.
The company says that more results with its vaccine may come in late January. The vaccine was found to have common side effects, such as headache and fatigue.
There were plans for the company to have 12 million doses by the end of February, but manufacturing problems could delay that until April.
Vaccines are currently being administered at slower rates than anticipated due to strict guidelines on who is allowed to receive them. Officials expect the guidelines to be released in the coming weeks so that the number of people receiving the vaccine increases.