The U.S. Food And Drug Administration said the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has met the requirements for emergency use authorizations, according to analysis released Wednesday.
The vaccine, that’s being called a “game-changer” by officials, is being manufactured in Baltimore by Emergent BioSolutions.
According to the analysis, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s efficacy against moderate to severe COVID-19 was 66.9% at least 14 days after the vaccination and 66.1% at least 28 days after vaccination, according to the analysis.
“There were no specific safety concerns identified in subgroup analyses by age, race, ethnicity, medical comorbidities, or prior SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the analysis said.
The FDA said that it has reviewed the data for the vaccine and determined it is “consistent with the recommendations set forth in FDA’s guidance Emergency Use Authorization for Vaccines to Prevent COVID-19.”
I wrote extensively on this before, but please, please, please- go to Johnson & Johnson’s website and read about the mechanism of this vaccine before you make the decision to get it. This is a DNA based vaccine using a “deactivated” adenovirus as the vehicle to deliver the COVID spike protein to your cells. Also note, in their own words, this does not protect you from contracting the virus, but rather ameliorates the symptoms so that you do not get a moderate to full blown case of COVID, only a mild one. So, my question is- are those people who go get this and the mRNA vaccines actually a danger to the rest of us? As they still get the disease, I am assuming they can spread it? Also, the J&J website references that they use this DNA modality for the Ebola vaccines in the Congo, but there has been a lot of pushback in the Congo and actual attacks on the vaccine clinics. Just this week the Italian ambassador to the Congo was killed in the Congo when their food convoy was attacked on the way to an Ebola vaccination location- Google it. I looked up this organization, the World Food Program (WFP), which is a subsidiary of the UN. They have been heavily involved with the Ebola eradication efforts in Congo and the link to the following article raises red flags to me in that it seems to allude to the WFP providing food to these troubled areas in order to make the residents more cooperative with vaccine efforts: https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-assistance-vital-help-break-ebola-transmission-chain-democratic-republic-congo . Maybe this population is just uninformed and striking out without reason but it makes me uncomfortable that J&J’s website references their efforts in the Congo as an example of how safe this new type of vaccine is, but the people receiving it don’t seem all that thankful. I feel like this is gene therapy, not a true vaccine. I am not totally against the concept and believe it probably holds the key to better addressing cancer and other devastating illnesses. I just don’t believe I want to risk my health with a vaccine from this new field for a disease like COVID.