Johnson & Johnson requests permission from the US health authorities to...

Johnson & Johnson said it has submitted a request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow it to use booster doses of its vaccine for people 18 and older who previously received the company’s vaccine in one go. While the company said it provided data for different booster periods, ranging from two to six months, at a time when the US government is moving toward expanding its booster-dose campaign to include millions of Americans who have been vaccinated.

Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration allowed booster doses of the Pfizer vaccine to older Americans and people at risk from COVID-19. This was seen as part of a major effort by the Biden administration to bolster protection amid variable delta and potentially waning vaccine immunity.

Government advisers have backed Pfizer’s additional doses, but they also worry about confusion for the tens of millions of other Americans who have received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, and US officials do not advise mixing vaccination with vaccines of different types.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is holding a meeting with its panel of external advisors next week to review data on the booster doses of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

And if given the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration, Americans could start getting booster doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines later this month.

Previously released by Johnson & Johnson, data indicated that its vaccine remains highly effective against COVID-19 at least five months after vaccination, demonstrating an efficacy of 81% against hospitalization with the virus in the United States.

But the company’s research shows that a booster dose within two or six months led to an increase in immunity even more, as data released last month showed that giving a booster dose in two months provides 94% protection against moderate to severe Covid-19 infection, while the company did not release After six months of booster dose clinical data.

US Food and Drug Administration advisers will review studies submitted by the company and other researchers next Friday and vote on whether to accept the use of boosters, but the timing of Johnson & Johnson’s submission of its request was inappropriate.

“Both Johnson & Johnson and the Food and Drug Administration feel the need for boosters against Covid. We want to turn good data into action as soon as possible,” said Dr. Maathai Moomin, head of research at Johnson & Johnson.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was considered an important tool in the fight against the epidemic because it requires only one dose. But its introduction was hit by a host of problems, including manufacturing problems at the Baltimore production plant, which forced Johnson & Johnson to import millions of doses from abroad.

Additionally, manufacturers have added warnings of several rare side effects to a single dose, including blood clot ومرض Nervous Rarely called Guillain-Barré syndrome. Either way, the company emphasized that the benefits of a single dose still outweigh those uncommon risks.

Rival drug companies Pfizer and Moderna have provided the vast majority of US Covid-19 vaccines, with more than 170 million Americans fully vaccinated with two doses of the two companies while less than 15 million Americans have received the Johnson & Johnson dose.