COVID-19: Sisonke study shows J&J jab offers robust protection against Omicron
The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine offers robust protection against Omicron, according to the world’s first evidence on the jab’s efficacy against the variant.
Sisonke Programme researchers gave an update on Friday morning on their recent findings, saying less than half of the study’s first phase participants had been administered booster shots.
More than 496,000 healthcare workers participated in the first phase of the Sisonke COVID-19 vaccine study, which kicked off in February last year.
Since the second phase, which started in November 2021, just over 236,000 people received a Johnson & Johnson booster jab.
Professor Glenda Gray, co-principle investigator of the Sisonke Study, said during the fourth wave, healthcare workers were less likely to need intensive hospital care.
“The healthcare workers were less likely to be in ICU, less likely to need ventilation, and less need for oxygen compared to the Beta and Delta period in South Africa,” Gray said.
Gray added the shot was still effective, even against the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
“The immune system is evolving, we saw 63% protection against hospital admission. In those who had been boosted between 14 and 27 days, we saw an 84% effectiveness. We saw that this kind of vaccine effectiveness is maintained for up to two months and so we are refreshing this data.”
Health authorities said there’s been a 5% reduction in the number of COVID-19 deaths, recorded over the past seven days.
-EWN
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