J&J kicks off study of single-shot COVID-19 vaccine in 60,000 volunteers

 

 Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N on Wednesday began a 60,000-person trial of an experimental single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that, if proven effective, could simplify distribution of millions of doses compared with leading rivals requiring two doses.
The company expects results of the Phase III trial by year end or early next year, Dr. Paul Stoffels, J&J’s chief scientific officer, said in a joint news conference with officials from the National Institutes of Health and the Trump administration.

J&J plans to manufacture as many as 1 billion doses in 2021, and more after that, Stoffels said.
Rival vaccines from Moderna Inc MRNA.O, Pfizer Inc PFE.N and AstraZeneca AZN.L all require two shots separated by several weeks, which make them more difficult to administer and means twice as much vaccine is needed to inoculate the same number of people.
“The benefits of a single-shot vaccine are potentially profound in terms of mass immunization campaigns and global pandemic control,” Dr. Dan Barouch, a Harvard vaccine researcher who helped design J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine, said in a telephone interview.
The J&J vaccine also does not need to be stored at extremely cold temperatures, Barouch noted, another advantage over some rival vaccine candidates.