Thread by @DrEricDing

BREAKING—Single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 72 % effective at protecting against moderate to severe illness in US, 66 % effective in Latin America & 57 % effective in South Africa. It was 85 % effective overall at preventing severe disease. #COVID19 washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01…

2) Johnson & Johnson is expected to apply for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration next week. If the review follows the path of two earlier vaccine candidates, the shot could be authorized and available to the public by late February or early March.

3) it is 66% effective overall, which looks lower than the 95% for Pfizer and Moderna—but keep in mind those were done before the emergence of the new variants. We know South Africa variant have a lot of problems with potential vaccine escape. And Brazil variant likely too.

4) Indeed, Johnson & Johnson shot was tested at the height of the pandemic, in areas of the world where the virus had changed in ways that can elude parts of the immune response.

5) Moderna hence reported lower efficiency recently for neutralizing the South African variant. It’s even planning a 3rd booster shot. #COVID19

https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1353706396282474499

6) Also key, in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, all cases of covid-related hospitalization and death — the outcomes that most people would like to avoid — were among participants who had received placebo shots. Thus that implies 100% efficacy for warding off death.

7) The 90% vaccine efficacy for Novavax in the US but 49% in South Africa also attests to this phenomenon that it could be mutations driving lower efficacy in many parts of the world.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1354899824370462722

8) And Novavax notes lots of reinfection cases in South Africa in their trial. Again South Africa 🇿🇦 results likely due to the variant because of its known lower efficacy.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1354900468326133763

9) Let’s step back at get perspective:

85% for severe disease and 100% protection for death—

From 1 single shot

No follow visits

No freezing needed

➡️I’d take that any day!
prnewswire.com/news-releases/…

10) Whisper... many scientists have quietly feared and think the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccine would not show 95% efficacy anymore if they were tested today against all the different circulating variants. It’s a reality. So don’t compare no-variant pandemic results to current.

11) There have been some variants of course but the troubling ones have just emerged now. We are in a completely different phase of the pandemic.

Let’s do compare hospitalizations and deaths. That is the key. And for all of them, it’s near 100%!

12) The 100% protection against death at 28 days (“immortality” as @xpostfactoid jokingly said), and 100% for severe disease at 49 days, is together huge!

And all with just 1 shot and no freezing for 3 months. This is what we need to stop pandemic.

jnj.com/johnson-johnso…

13) Video summary of J&J #COVID19 vaccine: best takeaway is—

85% protection for severe disease

100% for hospitalization and death in 28 days.

1 shot only

No freezing

Cheap to make