Johnson & Johnson Claims COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Ups Antibodies By 9x

New data was provided today by Johnson & Johnson supporting the use of a vaccine booster shot for COVID-19. This shot is designed to be a follow-up for people that've previously been vaccinated with the original single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The first shot showed neutralizing antibody responses that were "strong and stable" against COVID-19 "through eight months after immunization." This booster should extend that time and increase binding antibody responses.

"We have established that a single shot of our COVID-19 vaccine generates strong and robust immune responses that are durable and persistent through eight months," said Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head, Janssen Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson. "With these new data, we also see that a booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine further increases antibody responses among study participants who had previously received our vaccine."

This new booster was part of what Johnson & Johnson called their "two Phase 1/2a studies" conducted on people that'd previously been administered the first Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The company showed a "rapid and robust increase in spike-binding antibodies" in patients – 9x higher than what was found before the booster, 28 days after the first vaccine.

An earlier study of this booster can be found under the title "Durable Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses 8 Months after Ad26.COV2.S Vaccination" with code DOI:0.1056/NEJMc2108829 as published July 14, 2021. The newest announcement of success in testing the booster shot this week included submission of new study results to medRxiv, which should be published soon.

The first Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine works great for approximately 8 months. This single-dose vaccine has proven to fight both the initial COVID-19 and the Delta Variant. Now there's a booster shot from Johnson & Johnson that can be administered "eight months of longer" after the first (primary) single-dose shot.

Take a peek at the timeline below for more recent COVID-19 vaccine-related news bits from the past week. And keep crossing your fingers they're getting close to that vaccine for all ages!