COVID-19

COVID-19 Roundup: J&J Vaccine, Convalescent Plasma, In-School Transmission

Johnson & Johnson Vaccine1

The single dose vaccine being developed by Johnson & Johnson (Ad26.COV2.S) has been shown to be 90% effective in interim study results.

The vaccine was evaluated in a multicenter, placebo-controlled, Phase 1-2a trial in which adult patients were randomly assigned to receive either the vaccine (high or low dose) or placebo in either a single- and 2-dose schedule.

Overall, the vaccine was shown to be effective in more than 90% of participants following the first dose at day 29 and reached 100% at day 57. The most common side effects included fatigue, headache, myalgia, and injection-site pain. Fever was also common.

Convalescent Plasma2

Early administration of convalescent plasma was associated with reduction in the disease progression of COVID-19 in older adults with mild severity illness, according to a recent study.

In their randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the researchers examined outcomes associated with treatment with convalescent plasma within 72 hours of onset of mild COVID-19 symptoms.

Among the 160 patients, severe respiratory disease developed in 13 of the 80 patients who received convalescent placemat and 25 of the 80 patients who received placebo. This equated to a relative risk reduction of 48%.

In-School Transmission3

Very little in-school transmission was observed in a study of 11 North Carolina schools over a 9-week period.

The researchers tracked the incidence of and secondary transmission of COVID-19 among over 90,000 students from these schools from August 15, 2020 through October 23, 2020. Overall, 773 cases of community-acquired COVID-19 were documented, with an additional 32 cases identified through contact tracing. No cases of child-to-adult transmission were documented.

“In the first 9 weeks of in-person instruction in NC schools, we found extremely limited within-school secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2, as determined by contact tracing,” the researchers wrote.

—Michael Potts

References:

  1. Sadoff J, Le Gars M, Shukarev G, et al. Interim results of a Phase 1–2a trial of Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine. Published online January 13, 2021. NEJM. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2034201
  2. Libster R, Marc GP, Wappner D, et al. Early high-titer plasma therapy to prevent severe COVID-19 in older adults. Published online January 6, 2021. NEJM. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2033700
  3. Zimmerman KO, Akinboyo IC, Brookhart A, et al. Incidence and secondary transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Published online January 14, 2020. Pediatrics. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-048090