JNJ Johnson and Johnson

By Gabriele Steinhauser 

JOHANNESBURG -- South Africa started administering Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine, which has yet to be authorized anywhere, to healthcare workers, as the country grapples with a new, more contagious coronavirus strain.

The South African government scrambled to secure the J&J shots after halting a planned rollout of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford earlier this month. That followed results from a small clinical trial in South Africa that found the AstraZeneca vaccine didn't appear to protect recipients from developing mild or moderateillness from the fast-spreading new strain of the coronavirus first detected in the country.

The J&J vaccine was found to be 57% effective at preventing moderate and severe Covid-19 symptoms in a larger trial held in South Africa, including from the B.1.351 variant, which has become the predominant version there. That was lower than the 72% efficacy rate observed during J&J's trial in the U.K., which vaccine experts attributed to the South African variant's ability to partially escape the immune response triggered by some Covid-19 vaccines.

When looking at just severe Covid-19 cases, the J&J vaccine was found to be 85% effective, including in South Africa.

"The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shown in extensive trials to be safe and efficacious and will protect our healthcare workers from illness and death from Covid-19," said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who got the shot, alongside healthcare workers, at a public hospital in a Cape Town township hit hard by the virus. Mr. Ramaphosa, who is 68 years old, said he wanted to show South Africans that the vaccine was safe.

South Africa's drug regulator cleared the J&J rollout as part of an "implementation study" that will continue while it reviews the company's application for full authorization. In contrast to other Covid-19 vaccines in use, the J&J vaccine requires just a single dose, making it much easier to distribute and administer, especially in developing countries.

South Africa has been the African country hit hardest by the pandemic, recording 1.49 million cases and 48,313 deaths so far. But excess deaths have reached more than 137,000 since the virus first took hold in the country, suggesting a much larger toll.

Late in 2020, scientists detected a new strain, which they say is more contagious and appears to be resistant to antibodies triggered by an earlier Covid-19 infection and some vaccines. The strain has since spread to 40 countries, including the U.S., but is believed to be relatively rare outside the Southern African region.

Vaccine experts, including those at the World Health Organization, say they are optimistic that the AstraZeneca vaccine can still prevent severe cases of Covid-19, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, from the variant.

South Africa, which has a population of 60 million people, has received a first delivery of 80,000 doses of the J&J vaccine and has ordered a total of 9 million doses.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing J&J's application and is expected to make a ruling later in February.

Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2021 07:38 ET (12:38 GMT)

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