A booster dose with Johnson & Johnson creates about 85% protection against Omicron

LAST UPDATE 12:34

A Johnson & Johnson booster vaccine against COVID-19 has been shown to be about 85% effective in protecting against the Omicron variant for a period of 1-2 months after taking it, the head of the South African Medical Research Council has revealed ( SAMRC), in its statements on Friday, according to Reuters.

Glenda Gray presented the findings of a SAMRC study in a South African Ministry of Health briefing on the fourth wave of COVID-19, which came as a result of the new variant.

“We saw an 85% vaccine efficacy and we saw that this kind of vaccine efficacy lasts for up to two months,” he said. “We are very pleased to report very high levels of effectiveness of the Omicron vaccine.”

The study involved 477,234 health care workers, all of whom had been vaccinated with the J&J vaccine, of whom 236,000 – about half – had received the J&J booster dose.

The study looked at hospitalizations among those health workers who became infected during the fourth wave and found that the booster vaccine reduced hospitalizations by 63% in the first two weeks after the booster, up to 85% thereafter. for between one and two months.

The study also found that those infected with HIV were more vulnerable to hospitalization because of Omicron.