Johnson & Johnson have acquired permission from the FDA to start human trial for their COVID-19 vaccine which has proven exceptionally powerful in monkeys after just one dosage. The Journal Nature noted that six out of six monkeys who got affected by the virus remained free of lung-damage due to the vaccine. Also, five out of the six didn’t even contract infections through the viruses in the nasal swabs. All in all, quite a confidence-inducing test.
“This gives us confidence that we can test a single-shot vaccine in this epidemic and learn whether it has a protective effect in humans,” Dr. Paul Stoffels, J&J’s chief scientific officer, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
The company has mentioned that it would begin human trials in USA and Belgium, with a sample size of 1000 individuals spread evenly over an age group of 18-55, and 64 and up. The US government is lending its full support to this medical company, with a funding of $456 million to achieve the impossible.
Interestingly, Stoffels did mention how a single shot was quite efficient in this virus, which is quite different from other diseases where a second shot increases the potency of the vaccine.