According to the company, a second shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine provides 94% protection against the virus, which is significantly more than a single shot alone.
According to data from the company’s Phase 3 trial, a booster shot given six months after the first one results in a 12-fold increase in antibodies.
A prior study indicated that the one-dose vaccine was 66 percent effective in overall protection but 85 percent effective in avoiding severe disease.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccination on February 27. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 14.8 million Americans have received it.
The Janssen vaccine is developed using a different technique than the vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer. They carry messenger RNA, also known as mRNA, to the body encased in lipids. The J&J vaccine is manufactured with an adenovirus, which is a common cold virus that has been modified to enter cells but then ceases. This is how genetic instructions are delivered.
More data and news will be coming in the next few weeks on when and where someone can get this booster vaccine.
