One-Dose Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Shows Positive Results, Company Says

The single-dose coronavirus vaccine developed by American company Johnson & Johnson generated a positive immune response and is safe, according to early trial results the company released Wednesday.

Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) vaccine “gives sustainable antibodies,” Dr. Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer at J&J, told CNBC of the vaccine’s early trial results, which were published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. The two vaccines that have received emergency use authorization in the U.S., made by Pfizer and Moderna, require two doses, meaning recipients must receive the shots weeks apart.

“[The] vaccine candidate induced an immune response and was generally well-tolerated across all study participants,” J&J said in a press release Wednesday. “Data demonstrated that, after a single vaccination, neutralizing antibodies against COVID-19 were detected in over 90 percent of study participants at Day 29.”

The company added that coronavirus antibodies were detected in all participants aged 18-55 by day 57, according to the press release.

The most common side effects of the vaccine were fatigue, headache, myalgia and injection site pain, according to J&J. There was one adverse event associated with the vaccine, which was a fever that required hospitalization but was resolved within 12 hours.

J&J said it expects to announce large trial results at the end of January and, if it proves to be safe and effective, to apply for emergency use authorization with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shortly thereafter.

While J&J expects to request authorization from the FDA, the company’s manufacturing has faced significant delays, according to The New York Times. It likely won’t be able to provide as many doses as previously promised, according to the Times.

The U.S. has been administering coronavirus vaccines since Dec. 14, but the effort has been slow. Just 10.3 million people have been vaccinated though the federal government has distributed 29.4 million doses, according to CDC data.

Coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations have continued to spike, according to The COVID Tracking Project. On Wednesday, the U.S. reported 4,022 new coronavirus-related deaths and 219,090 new cases while 130,383 Americans remained hospitalized from the virus.