Convenience that only needs to be hit once and the effect of mutant viruses is focused
▲ On the 17th (local time) at a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, South African President Cyril Lamafossa is receiving a new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine developed by the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Cape Town/AP Newsis
As the world’s first vaccine for coronavirus infection (Corona 19) from the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is being vaccinated for the first time in South Africa, attention is drawing on how effective it will be against the mutant virus in South Africa.
According to Bloomberg News on the 18th (local time), South Africa began vaccinations of 80,000 doses for frontline health workers at 17 hospitals in 9 states nationwide from the previous day. On the 17th, President Cyril Lamaposa and Health Minister Zwelly Mkije, conscious of the safety concerns of the J&J vaccine, vaccinated the vaccine.
Unlike Pfizer and AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccines, J&J’s vaccine has not yet been approved in any country in the world. In South Africa, only vaccinations that are intended for large-scale testing are currently permitted.
In South Africa, expectations for the effectiveness of the J&J vaccine are high. This is because the vaccine has been shown to be effective against the highly contagious South African mutant virus in large international clinical trials. In particular, unlike other vaccines that require two vaccinations, the advantage is that only one vaccination is required.
South Africa has already secured 9 million doses of the J&J vaccine, and the number can be increased to 30 million, health experts said.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft (MS), has also fired support for J&J and NovaVax vaccines that have not yet been approved. Gates appeared on CNBC that day, “People think that the vaccines of the two companies are not effective because they have not yet been approved by the authorities, but they are effective against the mutant virus.”
In fact, as a result of testing its own vaccine, J&J revealed that it showed 66% efficacy against the Corona 19 virus and 57% against the South African mutant virus. In the case of NovaVax vaccine, the overall efficacy against the Corona 19 virus was 90%, and the efficacy against the South African mutation was 49.4%.
Currently, the U.S. health authorities are planning to prevent the outbreak of the mutant virus pandemic by completing the vaccination as many people as possible, regardless of the type of vaccine, before the spread of the mutant virus begins in earnest.
Anthony Pouch, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the leading infectious disease expert in the United States, recently said, “J&J vaccines may seem less effective than Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but they are effective in preventing the possibility of a severe transition from COVID-19.” “The more important thing in vaccines is not to prevent mild, but severe,” he said.