How does Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine stack up against shots from Pfizer and Moderna?

Business Insider via MSN ^ | 02/01/2021 | Hilary Brueck

[SeekAndFind]

* Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine was shown to be 66% effective at preventing mild and moderate infections, and 85% effective at preventing severe disease, in trial results the company announced on Friday.

* It doesn't appear to be as effective as Moderna or Pfizer's mRNA vaccines, though there are big differences in how the shots were tested.

* It also has the benefits of being cheap and relatively easy to manufacture and distribute. It only requires one shot in the arm.

An experimental coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, according to new trial data the company released on Friday.

At first glance, the vaccine doesn't appear to be as stellar as authorized vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, but it does have a few perks.

First and foremost: J&J's vaccine is just one shot in the arm, while both Pfizer and Moderna's are administered as 2 doses, given several weeks apart. Second, it can be refrigerated for months, making transportation and storage far less of a challenge. Third, it is cheaper and easier to produce.

"Our goal all along has been to create a simple, effective solution for the largest number of people possible, and to have maximum impact to help end the pandemic," Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky said in a statement when his company's results were released.

During a call Friday morning at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US' top infectious disease expert, stressed the importance of adding "yet another platform, another candidate into the mix in our global efforts against this extraordinary pandemic."

"This has really important domestic and global public health implications," Fauci said of the J&J vaccine, noting that "it is one shot,"

[SeekAndFind]

The information on J&J's vaccine comes from a press release, while data on Moderna and Pfizer's shots is based on what the companies submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization. J&J said it plans to submit its data to the FDA next week to request an EUA, which would green-light the vaccine for use in adults across the US.

How well the shots prevent illnesses:

Moderna: 94.1% effective at preventing symptomatic infections, 100% effective at preventing severe infections, after two doses.

Pfizer: 95% effective at preventing symptomatic infections, nearly 100% effective at preventing severe infections (only 1 case among more than 18,000 vaccinated individuals in the trials), after two doses.

Johnson & Johnson: 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe infections, 85% effective at preventing severe infections, after a single dose.

Note: A J&J executive said its shot may have shown a lower level of efficacy because it was tested at a time when higher levels of the virus, including variants that may evade vaccines, were circulating.

[Captain Peter Blood]

It’s just as much an illusion as the others. What if none of them do anything?
What if the conclusions about the virus and vaccines are based on incomplete and made up facts, then what?

What if I told you that the virus has never been isolated in lab setting and assumptions have been made that can’t be proven?

Look it up.

[plain talk]

66% vs 94-95%. I would the J&J vaccine is DOA until they improve it.

[Alter Kaker]

What if your aunt had balls? Then she’d be your uncle.

The vaccines work. Operation Warp Speed was a miracle. And some day Donald J. Trump will get the credit he deserved.

[volunbeer]

Most important for many people is that J&J has produced a traditional vaccine (not an mRNA one) that is one shot.

I am uncertain how/why they can make their claims of effectiveness given the limited time and data, but as of right now after reading much on the subject I am leaning towards waiting for this vaccine.

The mediots and bureaucrats did lie to us - we were told non-stop that we would “have to wait for a vaccine” and yet here we are and they now tell us the vaccine does not mean you cannot get or spread the virus, it only mitigates how sick you may become..... it was oversold.

How exactly is the vaccine supposed to help us?

[MinorityRepublican]

You can take J&J vaccine in Africa and India. Not so with Pfizer and Moderna.

[SeekAndFind]

How many people tried them out:

Moderna: trials included more than 30,000 volunteers across the US.

Pfizer: trials included more than 43,000 volunteers across six countries: the US, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Germany, and South Africa.

Johnson & Johnson: trials included more than 43,000 volunteers across eight countries: the US, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and South Africa.

About half of the volunteers in each company's study got real shots, and half got fake (placebo) jabs, to test out how well the vaccines work, compared to nothing.

How they work:

Moderna: mRNA.

Pfizer: mRNA.

Johnson & Johnson: adenovrius.

How you take them:

Moderna: 2 shots in the arm, given 28 days apart.

Pfizer: 2 shots in the arm, given 21 days apart.

Johnson & Johnson: 1 shot in the arm. © Hugh Hastings/Getty Images A nurse at the Royal Cornwall Hospital prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine in Truro, United Kingdom. Hugh Hastings/Getty Images

How long it takes for protection to kick in:

Moderna: some protection from infection begins 10-14 days after first shot, with full protection achieved two weeks after the second shot.

Pfizer: some protection from infection begins 10-14 days after first shot, with full protection achieved one week after the second shot.

Johnson & Johnson: some protection from infection begins as early as 14 days after the shot, with full protection measured 28 days after the jab. That protection may get even better as time goes on, though, as zero COVID-19 cases were reported in patients who'd been vaccinated for 49 days or more.

How long hospitals and clinics can store it in the fridge

Moderna: 30 days.

Pfizer: 5 days.

Johnson & Johnson: 3 months.

[BlueStateRightist]

“It’s just as much an illusion as the others. What if none of them do anything? What if the conclusions about the virus and vaccines are based on incomplete and made up facts, then what? What if I told you that the virus has never been isolated in lab setting and assumptions have been made that can’t be proven?”

Yes, and Neil Armstrong was an actor who never left a Hollywood studio in 1969.

[alexandriagreen]

Friendly reminder that Johnson and Johnson was found guilty of knowing asbestos was in their baby powder. Cost them $29 million. There’s no liability for their va$$ine

[DesertRhino]

It’s not the mRNA type that has never been approved before for human use as an immunization or therapy. It’s a standard vaccine. You are much less of a human Guinea Pig.

[japaneseghost]

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-isolated/fact-check-the-virus-that-causes-covid-19-has-been-isolated-and-is-the-basis-for-the-vaccines-currently-in-development-idUSKBN28E2SB

[Guenevere]

Bttt

[Mears]

I had dose 1 of Moderna today.....glad to have it.

.

[Irenic]

85% for severe.

[blackdog]

One microchip installed is just as good as the other.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I had dose 1 of Moderna today.....glad to have it.

How do you feel? Any side effects?

[DesertRhino]

The baby powder was fine. Some shysters convinced a jury of morons that it was causal, but it’s never been proven.
That suit is just a monument to the absurdity of our class action cases.

[volunbeer]

Thanks - do you have link for that?

[algore]

This statement is totally false:
“About half of the volunteers in each company’s study got real shots, and half got fake (placebo) jabs, to test out how well the vaccines work, compared to nothing”

You would expect a placebo to be nothing, but you would be very wrong