Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has revealed positive results demonstrating that its COVID-19 vaccine generated ‘strong, persistent’ activity against the highly transmissible Delta variant.

A pre-print paper, submitted to bioRxiv yesterday, includes analysis from blood samples taken from a group of participants in J&J’s phase 3 ENSEMBLE COVID-19 vaccine study.
According to the new data, J&J’s single-dose vaccine produced neutralising antibody activity against the Delta variant at a higher level than it had previously been shown to elicit against the Beta variant.

Data submitted to bioRxiv from a sub-study of J&J’s phase 1/2a COVID-19 vaccine study showed that humoral and cellular immune responses generated by the jab lasted for at least eight months.

The pharma company added that a single dose of its COVID-19 vaccine generated neutralising antibodies against a range of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concerns, with these levels increasing over time.

“Current data for the eight months studied so far shows that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralising antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time. In addition, we observe a persistent and particularly robust, durable cellular immune response,” said Mathai Mammen, global head, Janssen Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson.

“With each new data set, we build on our solid foundation of evidence that our single-shot COVID-19 vaccine plays a critical role in ending the pandemic, which continues to evolve and pose new challenges to global health,” he added.

Moderna has announced that its COVID-19 vaccine showed activity against COVID-19 variants in lab studies, including the Delta variant first identified in India.

The results are based on the blood serum samples from eight individuals vaccinated with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine one week after their second doses were administered.

According to Moderna, the vaccine showed activity against all variants tested, including the Beta variant first discovered in South Africa and the Delta variant.

The vaccine also produced neutralising titers against more recently identified variants, including the Eta variant which was first discovered in Nigeria and the A.23.1 and A.VOI.V2 variants first identified in Uganda and Angola, respectively.

“As we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we are proactive as the virus evolves. We remain committed to studying emerging variants, generating data and sharing it as it becomes available,” said Stéphane Bancel, chief executive officer of Moderna.

“This new data is encouraging and reinforces our belief that the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine should remain protective against newly detected variants. These findings highlight the importance of continuing to vaccinate populations with an effective primary series vaccine,” he added.

New preliminary data from Israel’s Health Ministry suggests that Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is less effective against the Delta variant.

Earlier this year, the Israeli Health Ministry found the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be 94% effective after two doses. New real-world data, collected over the last month, now suggests the jab is 64% effective at preventing infection after both doses, following the emergence of the Delta variant.

The newly reported figures still suggest, however, that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 93% effective against severe COVID-19 and hospitalisation.

In Israel, COVID-19 cases have been steadily growing since all restrictions were lifted on 1 June, with the Delta variant thought to be causing a surge in infections. Approximately 57% of Israel’s general population are fully vaccinated, with 88% of individuals over the age of 50 years having had two doses.

Although the variant is thought to be more transmissible than the original COVID-19 strain, there is currently little evidence that it leads to more severe disease.

“Delta is a lot more infectious, but appears to not lead to as much serious illness and death, especially given that we now have the vaccine,” said Nadav Davidovitch, member of Israel’s expert advisory committee on COVID-19.

A study from Public Health England also recently suggested that two doses of either Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines are ‘highly’ effective against the Delta variant.