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Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Gets Emergency Authorization In U.S., Dr. Fauci Urges People To Take It
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 28, 2021
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 28, 2021
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Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson will begin shipping out 4 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine across America starting on Monday, after receiving emergency approval for the drug from the F.D.A. on Saturday. The company says it expects to have 20 million doses distributed by the end of March, and an additional 100 doses over the course of the summer, NBC News reports.
On Wednesday, the FDA released its analysis of the vaccine, deeming it 72% effective in the U.S. at preventing moderate to severe illness from COVID-19, though it is not clear how effective it would be against the new variants. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, developed with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, is a single-shot vaccine, unlike the vaccines already being administered in the U.S., which require two shots spaced weeks apart. And unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can also be stored in a normal refrigerator, which officials hope will make distribution easier to rural areas and other underserved places.
"The authorization of this vaccine expands the availability of vaccines, the best medical prevention method for COVID-19, to help us in the fight against this pandemic, which has claimed over half a million lives in the United States," Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in a statement.
In NYC, the de Blasio administration is counting on the new vaccine to "supercharge" its vaccination effort, with plans to bring the vaccine directly to homebound seniors.
“We’ve been working with a number of different agencies and clinicians who have the experience of already taking care of people in their homes—for example, home-based primary care clinicians as well as visiting nurses who already provide many healthcare services in people’s homes,” NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi told reporters last week.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine's overall efficacy rate of 66% is not as high as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which have been shown to be over 90% effective in clinical trials. But all three vaccines are very effective at preventing severe illness, and health experts say the best way to battle the pandemic is to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible, before new virus variants become dominant and more resistant to the current vaccines.
Dr. Paul Offit, who serves on the FDA's advisory panel, told NPR the Johnson & Johnson vaccine "is very effective ... at preventing severe disease after a single dose and it induces the kind of response, so-called cellular immune response, that looks like it's going to have fairly long-lived memory, which is all good. This certainly provides protection against what you care about, which is hospitalization, ICU admission and death. It's virtually 100% effective at doing that."
In an interview on Meet the Press on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci urged people to take any vaccine they can get their hands on, and argued that Johnson & Johnson is not a "weaker" vaccine.
"All three of them are really quite good, and people should take the one that's most available to them,” said Fauci, the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "If you go to a place and you have J&J, and that's the one that's available now, I would take it. I personally would do the same thing. I think people need to get vaccinated as quickly and as expeditiously as possible."
It's unclear how many doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine NYC expects to receive next week. A de Blasio spokesperson said on Sunday the mayor "will have more to say soon."
As of Sunday morning, 1.8 million total doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been given out in NYC. Approximately 68 million vaccine doses have been administered nationwide, NBC News reports.
Tagged
vaccines
COVID-19
Johnson & Johnson
coronavirus
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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