Advisory Committee Unanimously Recommends Johnson and Johnson's Covid Vaccine

An advisory panel of experts to the Food and Drug Administration has unanimously recommended emergency approval of Johnson and Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine which virtually guarantees its acceptance and rapid deployment to vaccination centers.

www.msn.com/…The nonbinding decision, which was adopted 22-0, by the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee comes as the Biden administration works to ramp up the supply of vaccine doses and get Americans vaccinated as quickly as possible. U.S. health officials are growing concerned about new, emerging variants of the virus, particularly the B.1.351 strain from South Africa, which has been shown to reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines that are both on the market and under development.

Those Vaccinated with J&J Doses had Zero Covid Deaths

www.cnn.com/…The vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine arm, Janssen, was tested in advanced clinical trials in more than 44,000 people in the US, South Africa and Latin America. Globally, it showed an overall efficacy of 66% in preventing moderate-to-severe disease. In the US, this efficacy was 72% and it was 85% effective in preventing severe disease. No one who got the vaccine died of Covid-19 during the trial.

J&J is said to have from 3 to 4 million doses ready to ship, a welcome addition to the US supply. The CDC reports that Pfizer and Modena have so far shipped about 94 million doses  to the US since the middle of December, 19 million of those were shipped since Saturday. About 14.2% of the US population has received at least one dose as of yesterday, according to the CDC. About 18.5% of US residents old enough to receive the vaccines have had at least one shot.

(The CDC allows a 3 day window to report vaccination numbers)