The Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19 is significantly less effective against variants, compared to the two other COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States, a pre-print study by scientists from the New York University School of Medicine suggests.
According to the paper’s summary, the antibodies elicited by the two-dose Pfizer–BioNTech and Moderna vaccines “showed modest neutralization resistance against Beta, Delta, Delta plus and Lambda variants.” In contrast, the antibodies generated in response to the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine had “significantly decreased neutralization.”
“The data underscore the importance of surveillance for breakthrough infections that result in severe COVID-19 and suggest the benefit of a second immunization following [the Johnson & Johnson vaccine] to increase protection against the variants,” the study states.
Johnson & Johnson didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. The company’s chief financial officer, Joseph Wolk, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on July 21 that “we’ve got to be very guarded in terms of a test tube study that makes conclusions about one aspect of immunity.”
The study hasn’t been peer-reviewed and shouldn’t be used to guide health behavior or viewed as conclusive. It was published two days after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is “significantly less” effective against the Delta variant.
“We do not know exactly to what degree the vaccine helps, but it is significantly less,” Bennett told reporters and Cabinet members on July 17.
Some locales, including Los Angeles County, revived indoor mask mandates following an increase in new COVID-19 cases across the United States. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on July 20 that the federal government currently isn’t following suit.
“We know that some employers: hospitals, health systems, colleges, and universities—which we’ve seen put in place mask mandates—some large and small employers have chosen to take this step. That’s entirely appropriate,” Psaki said.
“That’s their decision to make. That’s not an initiative where we’re instituting from the federal government, but we know that companies, private-sector employees, health institutions, educational institutions will take steps in order to keep the people in their community safe.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t changed its guidance and continues to advise that fully vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks indoors and in most other settings.
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