My1sttoday: Johnson & Johnson vaccine 66 percent effective, 57 percent against South Africa variant. There is also a warning sign from the variant found in South Africa. The efficacy dropped from seventy-two percent in the United States, to fifty-seven percent in South Africa, where a new coronavirus variant is prevalent.
That new virus has responded less well to a range of vaccines, including now this one, causing concern among experts. Still, a range of vaccines are still thought to provide protection against the variant.
The company plans to file for authorization from the FDA in “early February,” meaning the vaccine could soon add to the U.S. arsenal against the vaccine.
The company emphasized that its vaccine is 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease, meaning the worst cases that cause hospitalization or death.
The overall level of 66 percent is below the roughly 95 percent for Pfizer and Moderna. But it is well above the FDA minimum of 50 percent.
Lately, Novavax vaccine is reportedly almost 90 percent effective in trial, but not against South Africa variant.