J&J Vaccine Effectiveness: Delta edition

Good news!

Do any of you J&J recipients feel left out of the data? It seems like most of the studies or news articles regarding how well the vaccines are working against Delta are only for the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna). In fact, the latest recommendations on persons with immunocompromised conditions receive a 3rd shot ONLY includes those who got Pfizer or Moderna.

Since I received J&J (like many of you), I’ve been watching the data closely. Do we need a booster? Can you mix and match another mRNA vaccine? Does it work against Delta? Let’s look at the data:

Overall, 13.7 million people have received J&J in the US.

The best data we have on whether or not the J&J works against Delta is from “real-world” data from South Africa where Delta was widely circulating. Real-world means this data was collected among front-line, healthcare workers after Phase 3 trials were done. Think of this an ongoing surveillance of the vaccine as it become widely available to the general public. What did they find?

1. There were 477,234 vaccinated healthcare workers who received the J&J vaccine.

2. Of those, there was a 91-96% protection against death and 71% protection against hospitalization - remember this was DURING the time that the Delta variant was already dominant.

   

3. Safety was also assessed and they found 2 cases of rare blood clots (out of the 477,234) and both fully recovered. No other safety issues were detected.

Now to some really interesting findings (well, interesting if you love data and epidemiology). These findings were presented by Glenda Gray, the president of the South African Medical Research Council and co-leader of the trial in a YouTube broadcast. These pictures are blurry because I did a screenshot of the main take-away points from that broadcast and couldn’t find them anywhere else online. Sorry about the blurriness, but I’ll provide the commentary.

1. J&J provided good protection against the Beta variant (the original one circulating in South Africa) and the Delta variant (the dominant one now). Below data for Beta is on the left and data for Delta is on the right. Notice the red and blue lines diverging? The blue lines are infections among vaccinated and the red lines are infections among unvaccinated people. The big takeaway is J&J worked slightly BETTER against Delta - can I get a yeehaw to that!

   

   

2. Breakthroughs infections are RARE - and, were mild when they did occur. This is similar to what we are seeing with the mRNA shots too.

   

   3. Sustained durability of the immune response lasted 8 months (the picture below only shows through 4 months). This is great news and indicates that, for now, no booster is needed if you are within that window.

   

   My summary:

   J&J provides great protection against hospitalization, death, and even breakthrough cases in the midst of Delta. Hopefully this can give you peace of mind if you received the J&J vaccine. I know you have probably read reports or heard stories of people who got J&J going to get a mRNA shot as “additional protection” or a booster. At this time, we simply do not have the data to know whether or not that is safe, effective, or even needed. Some countries have mixed AztraZeneca (which is the same type of vaccine as J&J) with mRNA vaccines - but, the US has not done that yet. For now, J&J looks good.

   Another great thing about J&J is it is 1 shot and you’re considered fully vaccianted 2 weeks after. So, for those of you who have been hesitant about getting a vaccine (or have friends/family that are), J&J is a great option - especially in light of the explosion of Delta cases in EVERY state. Every state is now at a high level of transmission risk - so, if you are not vaccinated you are at a very high risk of being infected with Delta.

   That’s it for now. Stay safe, wear your masks, advocate for mask mandates in schools, and love your neighbors.

-FNE

On a personal note, I want to say thank you to those of you who have become a paid subscriber. The science is and will always be free! And, I’m glad I can contribute something during this never-ending-frustrating pandemic. I just want to say thank you for your support (paid or not) during this side-gig of mine. It’s helping buy some coffee and cookies to keep going. And, I’m sharing most of the cookies with the kiddos and hubs. =) Cheers!