(Reuters) – Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that its single-dose vaccine was 66% effective in preventing COVID-19 in a major global trial against multiple variants, giving health officials another weapon to fight the pandemic.
In the trial of almost 44,000 volunteers, the level of protection against moderate and severe COVID-19 ranged from 72% in the United States, to 66% in Latin America and only 57% in South Africa, from where a worrying variant has spread.
The data showed that the vaccine’s effect on the South African variant was diminished compared to the unchanged virus, but infectious disease and public health experts said it could still help stem the spread of the virus and prevent deaths.
Data from the Novavax intermediate trial on Thursday also documented less effectiveness in South Africa.
The rival vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna were both about 95% effective in preventing symptomatic diseases in main trials when administered in two doses.
These tests were conducted mainly in the United States and before the emergence of new variants. This means that the world is running out of time and with limited supplies to vaccinate as many people as possible, and quickly, to prevent virus outbreaks.
COVID-19 is increasing in 37 countries and infections have exceeded 101 million worldwide.
The leading infectious disease specialist in the United States, Anthony Fauci, said the world needs to get vaccinated quickly to try to anticipate these changes in the virus.
“It is really a warning sign for us to be agile and adjust as this virus is sure to continue to evolve,” said Fauci.
The main objective of J&J was the prevention of moderate to severe COVID-19, and the vaccine was 85% effective in stopping serious illness and preventing hospitalization in all geographies and against multiple variants 28 days after immunization.
This “will potentially protect hundreds of millions of people from the serious and fatal results of COVID-19,” said Paul Stoffels, scientific director at J&J.
J&J shares fell 4% to $ 162.7 at 17:00 GMT, with some Wall Street analysts saying their vaccine’s effectiveness was below that of rivals. Moderna’s shares rose 8% to $ 172.80.
LOOKING FOR APPROVAL
J&J plans to seek an emergency use permit from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week and will soon follow up with the European Union and the rest of the world.
She said she plans to deliver 1 billion doses of the vaccine, which she will do in the United States, Europe, South Africa and India in 2021.
Public health officials are counting on this to increase the much needed supply and simplify immunization in the United States, which has an agreement to buy 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine and an option for an additional 200 million.
J&J said the vaccine would be ready immediately after emergency approval, but Stoffels declined to say how many doses.
“The key is not just overall effectiveness, but specifically effectiveness against serious illness, hospitalization and death,” said Walid Gellad, associate professor of health policy at the University of Pittsburgh.
The J&J vaccine uses a common cold virus to introduce coronavirus proteins into cells and trigger an immune response, while the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines employ a new technology called messenger RNA.
Unlike these vaccines, J&J do not require a second injection weeks after the first or need to be kept frozen, making them a strong candidate for use in parts of the world where transportation and cold storage are problematic.
“Most countries are still desperate to get their hands on doses, regardless of whether or not the vaccine is considered highly effective. Moderately effective will be enough for now, ”said Michael Breen, Director of Infectious Diseases and Ophthalmology at research firm GlobalData.
‘OVERLOADED’
Several studies have emerged this month showing that a South African variant has mutated in areas of the virus that are the main targets of vaccines, reducing its effectiveness.
“What we are learning is that there is a different effectiveness in different parts of the world,” Stoffels told Reuters.
In a substudy of 6,000 volunteers in South Africa, said Stoffels, the J&J vaccine was 89% effective in preventing serious illnesses. In the part of the study in South Africa, 95% of cases were infections with the South African variant.
“I am impressed with the fact that this vaccine protected against serious illnesses, even in South Africa,” said Glenda Gray, the lead joint investigator for the South African vaccine trial.
In the J&J trial, conducted in eight countries, 44% of participants were from the United States, 41% from Central and South America and 15% from South Africa. Just over a third of the volunteers were over 60 years old.
Julie Steenhuysen reports; Additional reporting by Manas Mishra, Dania Nadeem and Manojna Maddipatla in Bengalaru, Rebecca Spalding and Michael Erman in New York and Promit Mukherjee in Johannesburg; Written by Alexander Smith; Editing by Peter Henderson, Edwina Gibbs, Keith Weir and Caroline Humer