J&J Vaccine 84% Effective against Omicron, Says Study

A booster shot of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine is effective by 84% against Omicron's hospitalization risks, Reuters cited a study on Thursday.

Conducted in South Africa, the study was applied on South African healthcare workers who contracted Omicron, and researchers found out that one booster shot of the single-dose vaccine decreased the risks of hospitalization among those workers.

More than 69,000 booster shots of J&J were given to medical staff members, and the percentage of the vaccine's efficiency jumped from 63% to 84% after 14 days from the date of receiving the booster shot.

This study opened the door for the single-shot vaccine to be listed again in South Africa's vaccination rollout after it was halted for concerns over blood clotting.

It wasn't the first study conducted by the South African experts regarding the impact of the COVID-19 vaccines on Omicron.

Last month, experts in the African state revealed that two vaccines of Pfizer are less effective towards Omicron's risks by 40%.

Therefore, it was recommended that booster shots would be the key to fighting the risks of death and hospitalization resulted from the recently emerged variant by health experts in the UK.

Early analysis of Omicron and Delta cases in the UK revealed that three doses of Pfizer vaccine could be the key against Omicron.

The new analysis revealed that two Pfizer vaccine doses are not enough to protect against the Omicron variant, so, adding the third vaccine dose provided more than 75% protection.

In addition, it succeeded in preventing the symptoms of COVID-19 by  75%.

Secretary Michael Gove warned the UK of the “deeply concerning situation,” adding: “Action is absolutely required, and as new data comes in we will consider what action we do require to take in the face of that data.”