Company has said that a second dose, given two months after the first, increases the vaccine’s effectiveness<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, Oct. 4, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Johnson & Johnson plans to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve emergency use of a booster shot of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine early this week.<\/p>\n
While the request has yet to be submitted, the FDA on Friday scheduled an Oct. 15 meeting of its expert advisory panel to discuss whether a booster shot of the vaccine should receive emergency use authorization, The New York Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n The scheduling of that meeting before Johnson & Johnson has even filed its application with the FDA highlights the Biden administration’s concerns that the 15 million Americans who received the company’s vaccine require more protection, The Times<\/em> said. Johnson & Johnson is the last of the three FDA-authorized vaccine providers to seek approval of booster shots, as increasing evidence suggests that older adults and other high-risk people may need them.<\/p>\n A recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was only 71 percent effective against hospitalization from COVID-19 compared with 88 percent for the Pfizer vaccine and 93 percent for the Moderna vaccine. Both are two-dose vaccines. Johnson & Johnson recipients were also more likely to have breakthrough infections or symptomatic COVID-19 than recipients of the other two vaccines, other research has shown, The Times<\/em> reported. But a company-funded study of nearly 2 million people showed the vaccine was 81 percent effective against hospitalization. And other studies suggest that protection from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine does not wane over time like protection from the Pfizer vaccine does.<\/p>\n Regardless, the company announced last month that a second dose, given two months after the first, increased the vaccine’s effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 by about 22 percentage points, to 94 percent. Johnson & Johnson also said two shots were 100 percent effective against severe disease, although that estimate was less conclusive, The Times<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n