Johnson & Johnson executive Dr. Paul Stoffels addressed the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine compared to others already available to the public, saying it revealed “complete protection against death and hospitalization”.
“We did this study at the height of the pandemic with great transmission in the presence of several different variants,” said the scientific director to “America’s Newsroom”, citing the variants in Brazil, South America and South Africa.
“What we learned is that the high percentage of effectiveness against serious illnesses, as well as complete protection against death and hospitalization, was basically the main finding,” he added.
Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that its single-injection coronavirus vaccine was 72% effective in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 in the U.S., but dropped to 66% in a larger study conducted worldwide. The results come from a Phase 3 ENSEMBLE clinical trial, involving 43,783 participants.
The injection was considered 66% effective in preventing moderate to severe illnesses in Latin America and 57% in South Africa 28 days after vaccination. When the company looked only at serious cases, protection rose to 85%.
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The coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and partner BioNTech SE proved to be more than 90% effective in the first 94 individuals who were infected with the new coronavirus and developed at least one symptom, the companies announced in November.
Moderna said in November that its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19 based on provisional data from a final-stage clinical trial.
Stoffels noted that “90% of the people in our study were people with the South African strain and are known to be highly resistant to many therapies, but also to current vaccines.”
“That’s why the discovery we have here is very relevant, as we can still protect regardless of age, risk factor, ethnicity, geography and strain,” he continued, noting that the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine will have one ” very important role in fighting the pandemic in the world. “
The J&J vaccine differs from vaccines currently approved in the United States in that it requires a single injection instead of two doses, and can be stored at higher temperatures than the others.
The company suggested that the injection was safe and well tolerated; 9% of study participants developed fever and there were no serious allergic reactions.
Stoffels told America’s Newsroom on Wednesday that the company plans to file an application for emergency use authorization (USA) in the US this week and will present the results of a clinical trial. The company said it will be ready for shipment immediately after authorization.
“The FDA will take a few weeks during February to review [the data] and we hope to obtain emergency use authorization in early March, in that period, “said Stoffels.
In August, Johnson & Johnson announced that it will deliver 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the United States in a deal with the government valued at more than $ 1 billion.
On Wednesday, host Bill Hemmer asked Stoffels if the United States “will receive 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson by summer?”
“Correct,” he replied, noting that “100 million shots means 100 million people.”
“This will make a huge difference in the United States for many, many people to protect themselves from the disease, but also for the country to return to normal,” continued Stoffels.
“So I think we will make a significant contribution in the coming months to keep the pandemic in check in the United States”
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Daniella Genovese, ‘Alexandria Hein and Kayla Rivas and FOX Business’ from FOX News, contributed to this report.