J&J'S SINGLE-DOSE VIRUS SHOT 66% EFFECTIVE

Johnson & Johnson said on Friday its single-dose vaccine was 66 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19 in a large global trial against multiple variants.

In the trial of nearly 44,000 volunteers, protection against moderate and severe COVID-19 varied from 72 per cent in the U.S. to 66 per cent in Latin America and 57 per cent in South Africa.

Rival shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna were both around 95 per cent effective when given in two doses.

J&J's main goal was the prevention of moderate to severe COVID-19. The vaccine was 85 per cent effective in stopping severe disease and preventing hospitalization across all geographies and multiple variants 28 days after immunization.