Johnson and Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the highly contagious Delta variant, with an immune response lasting at least eight months, the company said Thursday.
The antibodies and immune system cells in the blood of eight people vaccinated with the J&J jab effectively neutralized the Delta strain, which was first identified in India, researchers found.
A second study with 20 vaccinated patients at Boston’s Beth Israel Medical Center had similar results.
The data was sent to bioRxiv, a free online site for unpublished scientific preprints where authors “are able to make their findings immediately available to the scientific community and receive feedback on draft manuscripts before they are submitted to journals,” according to the site.
“We believe that our vaccine offers durable protection against COVID-19 and elicits neutralizing activity against the Delta variant,” said Paul Stoffels, J&J’s chief scientific officer, in a company statement.
India death toll breaches 400,000 mark
India became the third country to pass 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, official data showed Friday, as the country’s vast vaccination drive slows.
Total deaths are 400,312, according to the health ministry – behind only the United States and Brazil – with total cases almost 30.5 million.
The surge was blamed on the Delta variant and government complacency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory over the virus in January.
Delta spreading at record pace
The Delta variant of coronavirus is driving the pandemic forward in Africa at record speeds, the World Health Organization warned on Thursday.
Infection numbers have increased in Africa for six weeks running, rising by a quarter week-on-week to almost 202,000 in the week that ended Sunday, it said.
“The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we’ve seen before,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement.”The rampant spread of more contagious variants pushes the threat to Africa up to a whole new level.”
Euro 2020 may become superspreader: WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) called Thursday for better monitoring of Euro 2020 football matches as COVID infections climb again in Europe, fueled by the deadly Delta variant that is racing around the globe.
Hundreds of cases have been detected among spectators attending Euro games across the continent, with carriers of the Delta strain detected in Copenhagen, and infected Scots and Finns returning from London and Saint Petersburg respectively.
“There will be a new wave in the WHO European region unless we remain disciplined,” the UN agency’s Europe director Hans Kluge warned.
Asked about whether the Euro championship may be acting as a “super-spreader” event, Kluge replied: “I hope not… but this can’t be excluded.”