Written by Justin Culetu
As California continues to slowly roll out Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, a third option from Johnson & Johnson may become available within the next few days after the company applied for emergency authorization with the FDA.
J&J has developed a vaccine that is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 infections and about 85% effective against the most serious illness, according to the Food and Drug Administration. They also confirmed that the shot is safe to use, and could even help speed up vaccinations as it only requires one dose, compared to Moderna and Pfizer, which require two. The official approval by the FDA is expected within a few days.
Testing for the J&J vaccine was done on 44,000 adults in the U.S, Latin America, and South Africa. According to data reported by J&J, the vaccine was most effective in the U.S, with a 72% success rate, compared to 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa. The J&J shot can also last in a refrigerator for up to three months, making it easier to handle than the Moderna and Pfizer versions, which need to be kept frozen.
The analysis also showed that across all the countries listed, protection began within 14 days after the shot. No hospitalizations or deaths were reported after 28 days in the vaccinated group, in contrast to the 16 hospitalizations and 7 deaths in recipients who received a placebo shot. The FDA reported no significant side effects of the J&J vaccine.
Planning issues and other delays have decreased the efficiency of the vaccine rollout across the U.S while the country has suffered 100,000 COVID-19 deaths in only the first month of the Biden Administration.
Biden touted plans to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic while on the campaign trail, but admitted shortly after entering office that there was nothing his administration could do to change the trajectory of the pandemic.
Currently, about 44.5 million Americans have received at least one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine and only 20 million have received both shots. A few million doses of the J&J vaccine are expected to be delivered in the first week of approval, but the company reported that they expect to provide 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million by summer.
Even after President Trump has left office, the American people are still benefiting from his leadership. He created Operation Warp Speed, which allocated massive amounts of federal and private resources to ensure that companies have the necessary resources to develop an effective vaccine in record-breaking time. Experts claimed it would take years to get to the point where vaccine development is now. Ultimately, the decision made by former President Donald Trump and his administration has saved countless lives and will continue to save more while allowing the country to return to normalcy as quickly as possible.
Photo by Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters
