Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Generated Immune Response in Volunteers, Reported Minimal Side-Effects

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 14 January 2021, 06:01 am

After the successful development of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Moderna, all eyes are now on Johnson & Johnson.

An update was posted by the company and it stated that the early stage trials of the vaccine show that it generated an immune response in almost all of its volunteers, and it has minimal side-effects, after a single dose.

Johnson & Johnson vaccine

The company expects to report the details of more advanced trails before the end of January and they are hoping to apply for authorization of distribution from the US Food and Drug Administration or FDA.

Researchers who tested the COVID-19 vaccine in a combined Phase 1-2 trial found that either one or two doses generated both T-cell and antibody responses against the coronavirus.

Also Read: COVID Vaccine Update: Johnson & Johnson Begins Trials of One-Shot Drug

The trials were not made to show whether the vaccine protected the volunteers against the infections or the symptoms of the virus, that is what they are working on in the Phase 3 trials.

Vaccine phase 3 trial

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an international team of researchers who tested the COVID-19 vaccine in 800 volunteers stated that the early stage trials showed that it was safe and that the vaccine should work.

The researchers are from the United States, the Netherlands and Belgium and they tested the COVID-19 vaccine in a group of people who are 65 years old and older and in another group that has an age range of 18 to 55.

Vaccination elicited neutralizing antibodies, which means it is expected to stop the virus from infecting other cells, in 90% of all participants by the 29th day after the first does of the vaccine and in all of them by two months after the first dose was given.

The levels of these antibodies stayed stable for at least 71 days, according to the report.

The FDA has given emergency use authorization to two coronavirus vaccines, one was made by Pfizer who partnered up with BioNTech, and the second one was for Moderna. Both vaccines were 95% effective in preventing symptomatic disease in their Phase 3 trials. They also use messenger mRNA or RNA, which is a new vaccine technology.

The researchers wrote that a single dose of Ad26.COV2.S elicited a strong humoral response in a majority of vaccine recipients, with the presence of S-binding and neutralizing antibodies that were detected in more than 90% of participants, regardless of vaccine dose or the age group, according to CNN.

All of the companies that are developing the COVID-19 vaccine have been manufacturing doses even as they test them, so that they can distribute them to the public as soon as they get the authorization from the FDA. Johnson & Johnson is contracted to distribute 100 million doses to the US government if it wins EUA from the FDA.

On January 12, The New York Times reported that Johnson & Johnson was behind schedule in its production of the vaccine. The company then released a statement that says the pandemic shows no signs of slowing, and they are eager for more tools to help stop the spread of the virus,

The company stated that it is premature to get into the specifics of the supply of their vaccine because they do not have the data from Phase 3 yet and they have not filed for Emergency Use Authorization or EUA.