Clinical trials of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine showed promising results. According to data published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the experimental vaccine generated an immune response in almost all of the volunteers, and the immunity was still strong after more than two months.
For the stage one and two clinical trials, researchers randomly assigned 805 volunteers, who were between the ages of 18 and 55, and those 65 and older to receive a high or low dose of the vaccine or a placebo. They found that almost all of the participants produced detectable neutralizing antibodies after 28 days. By day 57, all of the volunteers had the antibodies.
"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 in more than 90% of participants, regardless of either age group or vaccine dose," the researchers wrote.
The vaccine was shown to produce minimal side effects, including fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, and pain at the injection site.
The company hopes to release the data from the third stage of its clinical trials by the end of the month. If the data is consistent with the earlier tests, they hope to apply for an emergency use authorization in February.
Johnson & Johnson is contracted to deliver 100 million doses to the United States if the vaccine is granted approval.
"An efficacious single-dose Covid-19 vaccine have obvious logistic advantages over a two-dose vaccine, especially during a pandemic," the company said.
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