Written by: Parker Davis Edited by: Esther Melamed On Friday, January 29, Johnson & Johnson posted a press release on their website announcing the Phase 3 results of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The vaccine, which was developed and produced by Belgian pharmaceutical company Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, was reported to be 72% effective in the United States, and 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19; and it was 85% effective at preventing severe disease. The company also noted that on day 28 post-administration, the vaccine “demonstrated …
Understanding the Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Variants on Vaccination Efficacy
Written by: Sean Brady Edited by: Esther Melamed What does it mean that there are SARS-CoV-2 variants? We have all patiently waited for the COVID-19 vaccines to begin to roll out. As these efforts become actualized, we are unfortunately facing SARS-CoV-2 genetic variants that could potentially undermine vaccination efforts. Before we dive into the impacts of variants on COVID-19 vaccination efforts, what does it even mean for there to be a SARS-CoV-2 variant? A SARS-CoV-2 genetic variant can be thought of like a kid to the original parent SARS-CoV-2 virus. While the kid has many …
Despite a rocky start, AstraZeneca tosses its hat into the COVID vaccine ring
Written by: Parker Davis Edited by: Esther Melamed In addition to Pfizer/BioNTech announcing their vaccine as being up to 95% effective in Phase 3 trials, Moderna and the University of Oxford partnered with AstraZeneca have added their names to the list of published vaccine efficacy data. Astonishingly, Moderna has reported in a news update that its vaccine is about 94% effective in preventing COVID-19, and recent reports indicate that not a single volunteer in their trial developed severe symptoms (Cohen, 2020). What’s more, early data from Phase 1 and 2 trials indicate that these …