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 An analysis of blood from eight patients showed that immune
responses elicited by the vaccine against the Delta variant, first
identified in India, were at a higher level than against the Beta
variant, which was first identified in South Africa.
The World Health Organization has said Delta is becoming the
globally dominant variant of COVID-19, raising concerns over whether
existing vaccines will work against it.
So far, preliminary data has shown that vaccines made by Pfizer Inc
and BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Moderna are largely protective against
Delta, with the concentration of virus-neutralizing antibodies being
somewhat reduced.
"We believe that our vaccine offers durable protection against
COVID-19 and elicits neutralizing activity against the Delta
variant," Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer Paul Stoffels
said.
Disease experts believe the J&J's vaccine may require booster shots
of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines to be more effective
against the Delta variant.
U.S. public health officials have said there is no clinical data to
support the move.
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 "The data should take center
stage as the more-virulent Delta variant drives
a global surge in COVID-19 infections and gains
ground in the United States," Cantor Fitzgerald
analyst Louise Chen said.
J&J has submitted the data as a preprint to the
website bioRxiv, a free online archive of
unpublished clinical studies, ahead of peer
review.
Data from a separate study also showed that
immune response for recipients of the vaccine
lasted at least eight months.
"The single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19
vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody
response that does not wane; rather, we observe
an improvement over time," Mathai Mammen, head
of research and development at J&J's drugs
business, said.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla and Manas Mishra in
Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and
Arun Koyyur)
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