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JOHNSON & JOHNSON HAS announced that global trials found their single dose vaccine to be 66% effective in preventing Covid-19.
The results were obtained in a large trial with 44,000 volunteers that was carried out on three continents and against multiple variants of the virus.
The US company said the jab was 85% effective in preventing serious illnesses and “demonstrated complete protection against Covid-19-related hospitalization and death, 28 days after vaccination.”
The firm added that its jab was found to be 72% effective in preventing Covid-19 in the United States.
The moderate and severe level of protection against Covid-19 was found to be 66% in Latin America. However, it was down to just 57% in South Africa, where another variant of the coronavirus circulates.
The vaccine has been developed by the pharmaceutical branch Janssen.
The results indicate that the jab does not provide as much protection as some of its two-shot rivals, particularly the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are more than 90% effective in clinical trials.
Speaking about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at an Oireachtas briefing this morning, Ireland’s High Level Vaccines Working Group Chair Brian MacCraith said Ireland could receive 2.2 million doses from the single dose injection. this year.
“We would have a bit of hope that it will happen in April, maybe late March, but again these things are not predictable. The key is the first results, ”he said.
Ireland, through advanced purchase agreements, has signed 2.2 million doses at this stage and they are distributed in quarters 2-4 of this year with the estimated peak in quarter 3, but it would be expected to have many hundreds of thousands in the second quarter.
“Again, this would be good news and would be single doses and would be for single individuals, without having to return for a second,” he added.
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Paul Stoffels, executive committee vice chairman and chief science officer at Johnson & Johnson, said: “These first-line results with a single-shot Covid-19 vaccine candidate represent a promising moment.
“The potential to significantly reduce the burden of serious diseases by providing an effective and well-tolerated vaccine with a single immunization is a critical component of the global public health response.”
With reporting by Rónan Duffy and Press Association
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