J&J’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine has good safety profile

Editor's Note

Results from Johnson & Johnson’s early-stage trials for its COVID-19 vaccine showed neutralizing antibodies in all participants who received the vaccine when they were tested at 57 days.

The J&J Ad26.COV2.S vaccine is different than the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in that it is anenovirus-based rather than mRNA-based.

Though the other two COVID-19 vaccines require two doses, a single dose of J&J’s vaccine 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 age or vaccine dose (ie, high or low).

In addition, during 71 days of follow-up after the first dose, antibody titers further increased and stabilized, which suggests the durability of the vaccine-elicited immune response.

Of the 805 participants, the most frequent adverse events were fatigue, headache, myalgia, and injection-site pain.

The interim analysis indicates that the Ad26.COV2.S vaccine is safe and immunogenic in both younger and older adults after a single vaccination with either the low or high dose, the researchers say.

The company hopes to launch the vaccine by March with a goal of delivering 1 billion doses this year.