How Does the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Work?

vaccine across the United States on Monday, March one. So how does the Johnson and Johnson vaccine work. This vaccine is what's called a viral vector vaccine. To create this vaccine, the Johnson and Johnson team took a harmless add no novirus and replaced a small piece of its genetic code with coronavirus genes that are instructions to create the particular spike protein that appears on the surface of the viruses that caused COVID nineteen. The harmless adnovirus is the titular

viral vector in this viral vector vaccine. After this modified adnovirus is injected into someone's arm, it enters the person's cells. The cells then read the genetic instructions needed to make the spike protein, and those cells then make and present the spike protein on their own surface. The person's immune system then notices these foreign proteins and makes antibodies against them that will protect the person if they're ever exposed

to the real harmful virus in the future. The adnovirus vector vaccine is safe because the anovirus can't replicate in human cells or cause disease, and the spike protein itself can't cause COVID nineteen without the rest of the coronavirus. This approach isn't new, but Johnsman Johnson used a similar method to make It's a Bowl of vaccine, and the Astrosenica Oxford COVID nineteen vaccine is also an adnovirus viral

vector vaccine. But how effective is it. The FDGAS analysis found that in the United States, the Johnson and Johnson COVID nineteen vaccine was seventy two percent effective at preventing all COVID nineteen and eighty six percent effective at preventing severe cases of the disease, While there is still a chance that a vaccinated person could get sick, This suggests that they would be much less likely to need hospitalization

or to die from COVID nineteen. A similar trial in South Africa, where a new and more contagious variant is dominant, produced similar results. A researchers found the Johnson and Johnson vaccine to be slightly less effective at preventing all illness there just sixty overall, but was still eighty two percent effective at preventing severe disease. The vaccine report also indicates that the vaccine protects against other variants from Britain and

Brazil as well. This is a bit different from the Maderna and Fiser vaccines, the most basic difference being that the John's and Johnson vaccine is an adenovirus vector vaccine, while the Maderna and Fiser vaccines are both mRNA vaccines. M RNA or messenger RNA vaccines also use genetic instructions from the coronavirus to tell a person cells to make that spike protein, but these don't use another virus as a vector. There are many practical differences as well. Both

of the mRNA based vaccines require two shots. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine requires only a single dose, and this is key when vaccines are in short supply or when it may be difficult to get a recipient of the first dose of a vaccine to return for a second one after a waiting period. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine can also be stored at much warmer temperatures than the mr Anda vaccines. The m r Anda vaccines must be shipped and stored below freezing or sub zero temperatures, which

requires a bunch of technical equipment and care. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine can be stored for at least three months in a regular refrige raider, making it much easier to use and distribute. As for efficacy, it's difficult to directly compare the Johnson and Johnson vaccine with the mr and A vaccines due to differences in how the clinical

trials were designed. While the Maderna and Visor vaccines are reported to be approximately effective at preventing illness from COVID nineteen, the trials were done over the summer and fall of before newer and more contagious variants were circulating widely. The Maderna A Visor vaccines might not be as effective against the new variants, and Johnson and Johnson trials were completed more recently and taken to account the vaccines efficacy against

these new variants. So given all of this, should you choose one vaccine over another. Although the overall efficacy of the Maderna and Visor vaccines is reported to be higher than the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, you should not wait until you have your choice of vaccine, which is likely a long way off. Anyway, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is nearly as good as the m RNA based vaccines

at preventing serious disease, and that's what really matters. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine and other viral vector vaccines like the one from Astra Zeneca are particularly important for the global vaccinization effort. From public health perspective, it's important to have multiple COVID nineteen vaccines, and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a very welcome addition to the vaccine arsenal. It doesn't require a freezer, making it much easier to

ship in store. It's a one shot vaccine, making logistics much easier compared with organizing two doses per person. As many people as possible need to be vaccinated as quickly as possible to limit the development of new coronavirus variants. Having a third authorized vaccine in the United States is a big step toward meeting vaccination demand and stopping this pandemic.

Today's episode was written by Maureene iran virologist and Associate Professor of biology at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and it was produced by Tyler Klang. The article was based on was republished on how stuff works dot com from The Conversation dot com under a Creative Commons license. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.