Johnson & Johnson corona vaccine: one syringe is enough

Johnson & Johnson’s corona vaccine is already approved in the US The European Medicines Agency will decide on approval this week.

Amsterdam – In the European Union, next to Vaccines A fourth vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca is expected to be available soon: it is the Johnson & Johnson Vector Vaccine, for which the American pharmaceutical company already received emergency approval in the United States on February 27. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement said that available data shows “that the known and potential benefits of the vaccine outweigh its known and potential risks.” In the US, the pharmaceutical company Merck Johnson & Johnson is now assisting with the production of the vaccine.

The European Medicines Agency Ema will likely give its recommendation on Thursday Johnson & Johnson vaccine Send. You can expect a positive feedback. Of the vaccine it has been examined in a continuous review since December; the EU is said to have ordered cans for 200 million people.

Johnson & Johnson’s corona vaccine uses a different pathogen than Astrazeneca

the vaccine at Janssen, the pharmaceutical division of Johnson and Johnson. The specialty of the vaccine: Unlike all other drugs approved to date around the world, it only needs to be injected once, just like the other vaccines, it must also be injected into the muscle.

Johnson and Johnson Like Astrazeneca, it is based on a gene-based vector vaccine. That means: The genetic information of the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein is integrated into a carrier virus, which the body itself must produce according to these instructions. Johnson & Johnson also uses a modified adenovirus for this, but not how Astrazeneca a pathogen that affects chimpanzees, but human adenovirus 26, which the drugmaker also used as a vector for its Ebola vaccine, which was approved in Europe in July 2020. If left untreated, it causes colds.

Johnson & Johnson Corona vaccine: Store in a normal refrigerator.

For vaccination, the adenovirus was modified in such a way that it no longer makes you sick and also contains the genetic information for the spike protein. This “model” is found in vector vaccines of Astrazeneca Y Johnson and Johnson Unlike mRNA vaccines, not in the form of ribonucleic acid (RNA), but in the form of double-stranded DNA. This has to reach the cell nucleus, where it is transcribed into RNA. The RNA, in turn, migrates to the ribosomes, where the spike protein is produced. Then the immune system is supposed to recognize the protein as foreign and form antibodies and immune cells, which when faced with the virus Protection against disease Offer.

Because the DNA in the vaccine It is more stable than RNA, unlike mRNA vaccines, the preparation can be stored for longer at normal refrigerator temperatures, according to the manufacturer, three months at a maximum of two to eight degrees Celsius. At minus 20 degrees, the vaccine must remain stable for two years.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was also tested in countries with variants of the virus

In general participated in the clinic Studies around 70,000 people over 18 years of age participated. 34 percent of the test people were over 60 years old. Studies have shown that Johnson & Johnson vaccine produced antibodies in 90 percent of those vaccinated four weeks after the first dose. According to the US FDA, the vaccine protects against moderate to severe courses of Covid with an effectiveness of just over 66 percent on average. If you only look at the severe courses, according to the “Ärzteblatt”, the effectiveness should be 85.4 percent after day 28.

The studies were carried out in North America, Latin America and South Africa and therefore also in countries where now Virus variants showed up. As reported by “Ärzteblatt”, neither in Brazil nor in South Africa did the “collapse of the vaccine effect” occur. In Brazil, the effectiveness was 68.1 percent, in South Africa 64 (in comparison: USA 72 percent).

Side effects of the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine are mild to moderate

the Side effects are considered similar to the others Vaccines for COVID-19 described. These include pain, redness, and swelling of the vaccine arm, headache, severe fatigue, muscle pain, nausea, and fever. For the most part, they should be of mild to moderate severity.

As the “Ärzteblatt” writes, they are among the “unexpected Side effects“15 cases of” thromboembolic events “(vs. 10 in the placebo group). Thromboembolic events are blood clots, some of which loosen, float with the bloodstream, and close a vessel. Among other things, they can cause a stroke. In addition, six vaccinated people, but none in the placebo group, reported the occurrence of tinnitus. Anaphylactic shock did not occur in clinical trials (although it is assumed that people with known allergies to vaccines or injectable medications did not participate) .

Johnson and Johnson he is also working on a variant of his vaccinationwhich, like the others, is based on two injections, in which case the interval between the two doses should be eight weeks. This study with a total of 30,000 participants is currently ongoing. (Pamela Dörhöfer)

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