Johnson & Johnson to Evaluate Its COVID-19 Vaccine Against New Omicron COVID-19 Variant

Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson & Johnson (the Company) has been closely monitoring newly emerging COVID-19 variants. In collaboration with academic groups in South Africa and around the world, the Company has been evaluating the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine across variants, including now the new and rapidly spreading Omicron variant. The Company is testing blood serum from participants in completed and ongoing booster studies to look for neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant. In addition, the Company is pursuing an Omicron-specific variant vaccine and will progress it as needed.“The new Omicron variant highlights the importance of continued surveillance, testing and vaccination to prevent hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. We remain confident in the robust humoral and cell-mediated immune responses elicited by the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated by the durability and breadth of protection against variants to date in clinical studies,” said Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head, Janssen Research & Development LLC., Johnson & Johnson. “We will not be complacent. Building on our long-term collaboration with scientists on the ground in South Africa and the ongoing real world effectiveness studies being conducted with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, we will work together to generate new data on Omicron. In parallel, we have begun work to design and develop a new vaccine against ...
Source: Johnson and Johnson - Category: Pharmaceuticals Source Type: news