Johnson & Johnson released a statement on Dec. 30 announcing the results of a real-work study conducted by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) proving the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine series in preventing severe illness and hospitalization from the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. In the statement, Mathai Mammen, MD, PhD, global head of Janssen Research & Development, said data confirmed the pharmaceutical company’s booster shot “provides 85 percent effectiveness against hospitalization in areas where Omicron is dominant.”
The study, which spanned from mid November to mid December, followed healthcare workers in nine provinces of South Africa who received the J&J vaccine as their first dose and the J&J booster. The findings concluded that the vaccine’s effectiveness in reducing hospital stays increased from 63 percent on inoculation day to 85 percent one to two month after receiving the booster, which participants received six to nine months after their initial dose.
Responding to these findings, SAMRC President and CEO Glenda E. Gray, MBBCH, FCPaed (SA), said, “We are therefore encouraged to see that boosting with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine regimen provides strong protection in a challenging real-world setting where there is an elevated risk of exposure – not just to COVID-19, but to the highly transmissible Omicron variant.”
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