A team of New York University researchers found that the one shot, Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be far less effective “at preventing coronavirus infections from the Delta variant and other mutated forms of the virus than from earlier strains.” Although the study has not been peer reviewed nor published in any medical journal, researchers based their findings on blood samples they collected, which showed less antibodies against the deadly virus.
According to the New York Times, the findings are consistent with earlier reviews of the one-dose AstraZeneca vaccine’s performance against the Delta variant, which found around a 33% efficacy rate.
Of course, J&J released their own findings that stated the vaccine was effective against Delta and other new variants. However, clinical trials put the J&J vaccine’s efficacy at around 66% against the original coronavirus strain, while the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were more than 90% effective.
Currently, the Delta variant accounts for 83% of all Covid cases in the United States.
“The message that we wanted to give was not that people shouldn’t get the J.&J. vaccine, but we hope that in the future, it will be boosted with either another dose of J.&J. or a boost with Pfizer or Moderna,” Nathaniel Landau, a virologist at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine who led the study, told New York Times.
USA Today:
