As the world reels under the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and medical professionals are racing against time to find an effective vaccine against the virus that has the power to put an end to the pandemic for good. From Italy to Russia and even India, every country is trying to come up with its own vaccine. The most recent effort towards the development of a COVID-19 vaccine has come from the US-based company Johnson & Johnson.
On September 23, 2020, Johnson & Johnson have initiated the Phase III trials of single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that could be helpful in the easy distribution of vaccine doses to different parts of the world. Other companies like Pfizer are also involved in vaccine development, but the J&J vaccine has the distinctive advantage of being a single-dose vaccine as compared to the double shot system researched until now.
Leading researchers are also hopeful in the single-shot vaccine’s convenience in mass immunization campaigns for the global pandemic.
The company has announced that it will enroll some 60,000 volunteers across the globe over the next six weeks to test the vaccine in its Phase III trials and the results will be out by early 2021.
The researchers involved in finding the vaccine have stated that Phase I and II trials have been quite successful and adhered to the strictest regulation of information privacy and safety. It is only after the public demand for transparency that the researchers have come out with the most recent news regarding the vaccine.
Till now, the vaccine has proven to be effective against COVID19 for a prolonged period. After modifying the vaccine, the Phase III trials will assess its ability to render permanent protection against the virus.
It will also assess if the vaccine can stop a mild case of the Coronavirus or is more effective against serious infections of COVID-19. The vaccine Ad26.COV2.S has been proven effective in primates and researchers are hopeful that it will be effective in human cases also.
The pandemic has been a tough time for the world and if there is anything that should unite all countries despite their differences, it will have to be the fight against coronavirus. Despite trying to find a definite cure for COVID-19, the disease is still at large and has claimed thousands of lives around the world. With 5.9 million cases of coronavirus in the world, it is high time to find a vaccine that puts an end to further spread of the virus.
The J&J vaccine is a ray of hope for the world. Being a single shot, heat-stable vaccine, the vaccine can be a strong weapon against COVID-19. It can be mass-produced and distributed all over the world irrespective of conditions. This will help medical professionals to start mass immunization programs and vaccinate people easily. This vaccine is important especially for the large-scale approach needed to address the pandemic plaguing every corner of the world.
J&J has planned to start the mass production of the vaccine as soon as it gets approved and medical professionals are hopeful that by 2021, they will have an answer to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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