Single-shot J&J jab joins war on Covid
44,000-PERSON TRIAL SHOWED VACCINE 66% EFFECTIVE
The US government has authorised Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, enabling millions more Americans to be vaccinated in the coming weeks and setting the vaccine up for additional approvals around the world.
The J&J vaccine is the third authorised in the United States, following ones from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, both of which require two doses.
President Joe Biden hailed the move but cautioned Americans against celebrating too soon. “Things are still likely to get worse again as new variants spread,” he said in a statement, urging people to continue washing their hands, wearing masks, and maintaining social distancing. “There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot let our guard down now or assume that victory is inevitable,” he said.
100% effective in preventing hospitalisation and death
Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are based on new messenger RNA technology, showed higher efficacy rates in pivotal trials that used two doses versus J&J’s single-shot vaccine. Direct comparison, however, is difficult because the trials had different goals and J&J’s was conducted while more contagious new variants of the virus were circulating.
In J&J’s 44,000-person global trial, the vaccine was found to be 66 per cent effective at preventing moderate-to-severe Covid-19 four weeks after inoculation. It was 100 per cent effective in preventing hospitalisation and death due to the virus.
There were very few serious side effects reported in the trial, which also offered preliminary evidence that the vaccine reduced asymptomatic infections. More study is expected. J&J’s vaccine is expected to be used widely around the globe because it can be shipped and stored at normal refrigerator temperatures, making distribution easier than for the Pfizer/BioNTech SE and Moderna vaccines, which must be shipped frozen.
UK vaccinates 20 million with at least one dose
Britain announced yesterday that it has given more than 20 million people at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with the rapid rollout providing hope in a country with Europe’s highest death toll.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it “a huge national achievement” while praising National Health Service staff and others involved for “tireless work”. A total of 20,089,551 people have received a first dose.
Only Israel and the UAE have vaccinated more people per head of population.
Iran’s coronavirus fatalities broke the 60,000 mark yesterday, official figures showed, as the country battles region’s worst outbreak of the illness.
The grim milestone comes after several Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani, warned of a Covid-19 “fourth wave” with cases rising in certain areas of the country.
“Sadly in the past 24 hours, 93 people lost their lives to Covid-19, and total deaths from this disease reached 60,073,” health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a televised address.
Iran has registered a total of 1,631,169 infections, according to the ministry.
The government yesterday banned incoming travelers from a list of 32 countries, including Britain and other states in Africa and Latin America, due to fears of new virus variants.
Curbs ‘maybe for the whole of next year’
“We have to observe (virus) restrictions probably for months, and maybe for the whole of the next year,” President Rouhani said at the country’s weekly Covid-19 taskforce meeting.
He called on citizens to better observe health protocols in the new Iranian year starting on March 21, saying Iran will face a “more difficult” situation over the next year by having to battle “mutated strains of the virus”.
The coronavirus taskforce spokesman Alireza Raisi on Friday said that Iran is “very concerned” about the more contagious British variant of the virus, which has already “circulated in the country.”
“We have identified 112 people infected with the British variant in the country, eight of whom have died,” he said, according to the health ministry. Iranian state media reported that 250,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine were delivered to Tehran.