Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine less effective against Delta variant, study finds

Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine is less effective against variants of the coronavirus than the original virus, according to a study published online Tuesday.

The study, published by bioRxiv but not yet peer reviewed, reported that the vaccine’s effectiveness in neutralizing the Delta and Lambda variants was “significantly diminished.”

However, studies published by Johnson & Johnson earlier this month suggest that its vaccine protects against the Delta strain. It “generated strong and persistent activity against the rapidly spreading Delta variant”, spokesperson Seema Kumar told the New York Times, who first reported the results of bioRxiv.

The study suggests that the 13 million people who received the J&J vaccine may need a second dose – or a dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna injections, the authors said.

“The message we wanted to get across was not that people shouldn’t get the J&J vaccine, but we hope that in the future it will be boosted with another dose of J&J or a boost with Pfizer or Moderna.” Nathaniel Landau, the study leader and a virologist at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, told The Times.

Previous studies have shown that the two-dose mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna effectively protect against the highly contagious Delta strain, which has become the dominant variant in New Jersey and the United States.

More than 99% of hospitalizations and deaths in New Jersey are among unvaccinated people, the state said in recent weeks. But vaccination rates have slowed.

The study is only the last bad news for Johnson & Johnson, a New Brunswick company.

Use of his vaccine was temporarily suspended this spring after reports of life-threatening blood clots. Millions of doses had to be destroyed following contamination problems at a manufacturing plant in Baltimore. And the company continues to face lawsuits over its talc-based baby powder, which it no longer sells in the United States, and its role in the opioid epidemic.