79% vaccine efficacy at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 100% efficacy against severe or critical disease and hospitalization Comparable efficacy result across ethnicity and age, with 80% efficacy in participants aged 65 years and over Favorable reactogenicity and overall safety profile
JAMA Live Highlights features comments from livestream interviews by JAMA Network Editor in Chief Howard Bauchner, MD. His discussions with experts in clinical care, public health, and health policy focus on critical issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Comments have been edited for clarity.
On December 11, 2020, the US reached an extraordinary milestone in the efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic: the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the first COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech. Since then, 2 additional COVID-19 vaccines, Moderna and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), have received Emergency Use Authorization in the US and, as of March 8, 2021, more than 31 million people, or 9.4% of the total population, have completed a vaccination series.
The efforts of the Biden administration to accelerate rollout of COVID-19 vaccines are enabling more adults in the US to be vaccinated each week. As of February 28, 2021, an estimated more than 48 million people have received at least 1 vaccine dose.
Johnson & Johnson is testing a coronavirus vaccine known as JNJ-78436735 or Ad26.COV2.S. Clinical trials showed that a single dose of the vaccine had an efficacy rate of up to 72 percent. The vaccine has been authorized for emergency use in the United States and Bahrain.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19), is a transmissible virus that infects the upper and lower respiratory tract, leading to a high viral titer in saliva and respiratory secretions.