(Bloomberg) – Two doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine dramatically reduced hospitalizations caused by the omicron variant in South Africa by up to 85%, a critical finding as the vaccine is increasingly used throughout the continent, researchers said.
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The results are good news, as the explosive outbreak of the omicron variant leads the world to record a record number of daily cases, and evidence emerges that the highly mutated variant may evade the protection normally obtained through vaccination. They could also help explain why hospitalizations and deaths do not follow the exponential growth of new cases.
The South African Medical Research Council study found that levels of protection increased in the weeks and months after a booster dose was given to those who previously received the J&J vaccine. It avoided 85% of hospitalizations one to two months after the second vaccine was given, compared to 63% in people who received the booster in the last two weeks.
“The results are important and reassuring,” said Glenda Gray, principal investigator and president of the South African Medical Research Council. The study, one of the largest of its kind in the world, “shows globally that this regimen can be helpful,” Gray said in a telephone interview.
Nearly half a million South African healthcare workers received vaccines from J&J as part of a major trial ahead of widespread rollout in the country earlier this year. Boosters of the same single-dose vaccine were offered starting in November, paving the way for this research.
Dominant variant
The researchers tracked hospitalizations that occurred from November 8 to December 17 in South Africa, when omicron quickly became the dominant variant circulating in the nation. They compared the records of 69,092 healthcare workers who received the J&J vaccine with an equal group of unvaccinated people who were enrolled in the same managed care organization.
There were 713 hospital admissions among those who were not vaccinated, compared with 10 among those who had received the booster in the past two weeks, 8 among those who had received it between two weeks to a month before, and three among those who had been inoculated with a booster. booster dose more than a month before.
The results are the first evidence that a second dose of J & J’s vaccine given six to nine months after an initial dose is effective against severe omicron infection, the researchers said in the study, published on medRxiv.org.
Johnson & Johnson shipped more than 200 million doses of its vaccine globally in mid-December, making it the seventh most widely used vaccine in the world, according to health analytics company Airfinity.
The study was funded by the Government, as well as donors, including the NPC Solidarity Response Fund, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Elma Vaccine and Immunization Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Original Note:
Two Doses of J&J’s Vaccine Slashed Omicron Hospital Stays (1)
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