SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A third COVID-19 vaccine, produced by Johnson & Johnson might soon be available for use in the United States.
One of the companies helping to test the vaccine, Benchmark Research, has a branch in Sacramento. Dr. Rusty Oshita is Benchmark’s principal investigator in Sacramento.
"In terms of the efficacy, what we know across the board, and that is all comers and across different continents that this study has persisted, about 86% efficacy," explained Dr. Oshita.
He said the research is ongoing, so final results will continue to vary.
"The efficacy of course right now is a little bit challenging in so far as the numbers are relatively low of the participants in the study,” he said. “At 44,000 individuals, a few positive cases or a few negative cases potentially could skew those numbers."
Dr. Oshita said what's most exciting is the data showing that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine prevents the worst outcomes of COVID-19.
"The propagation of disease leading to poor outcome, hospitalization, ICU admission and death has so far been fairly curtailed by this vaccine," Dr. Oshita said.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is different because it uses a common cold virus called adenovirus to get one’s cells to make the spike protein which their immune system then makes antibodies against.
"We've seen this with a number of flu-type vaccines, RSV, some other vaccines of that nature, in terms of the modality in which the vaccine works," he explained.
Many also wonder how it will stack up against the new COVID-19 variants.
"In addition to having efficacy against previous strains, it had efficacy against the South African strain. So it's providing protection against the newest strain that's out there," Dr. Oshita said.
While the effectiveness of a one dose regimen is still being studied, the possibility excites Dr. Oshita.
“That's just fabulous because now you're talking the numbers of individuals that can be vaccinated with high efficacy and nice safety profile, that's one time administration, and the numbers of individuals that can receive that now become doubled,” he said.
ABC10 received numerous questions since the pandemic began about their frustrations with EDD. Here is who could be responsible for the agency's problems.