J&J says its single shot COVID vaccine neutralises Delta variant, lasts for 8 months

New Jersey: Johnson & Johnson on Thursday (July 1, 2021) announced findings from a small laboratory study, which revealed that the single-shot vaccine neutralizes the fast-spreading delta variant of COVID-19 and provides durable protection against infection. According to the company report, the vaccine jab generated strong, persistent activity against the Delta variant and other highly prevalent SARS-CoV-2 viral variants.

The data from the laboratory study revealed that the durability of the immune response lasted for at least eight months. The report also stated that the single-dose vaccine, elicited neutralising antibody activity against the Delta variant at an even higher level than what was recently observed for the Beta (B.1.351) variant in South Africa. 

Additionally, it said that Johnson & Johnson's vaccine demonstrated protection against hospitalisation and death, and provided 85 percent effectiveness against critical infections. 

"Today's newly announced studies reinforce the ability of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to help protect the health of people globally," said Paul Stoffels, MD, Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee and Chief Scientific Officer at Johnson & Johnson.

"We believe that our vaccine offers durable protection against COVID-19 and elicits neutralizing activity against the Delta variant. This adds to the robust body of clinical data supporting our single-shot vaccine's ability to protect against multiple variants of concern," Stoffels added.

Mathai Mammen, MD, PhD, Global Head, Janssen Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson, said, "Current data for the eight months studied so far show that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time. In addition, we observe a persistent and particularly robust, durable cellular immune response."

"With each new dataset, we build on our solid foundation of evidence that our single-shot COVID-19 vaccine plays a critical role in ending the pandemic, which continues to evolve and pose new challenges to global health," Mammen said.

The single-shot vaccine is now available in many countries. It received emergency use authorisation (EUA) in the United States on February 27 and Conditional Marketing Authorization (CMA) by the European Commission on March 11.