{"id":195991,"date":"2021-07-23T15:25:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T13:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/jj-single-dose-vaccine-effective-against-delta-variant\/"},"modified":"2021-07-23T15:25:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T13:25:00","slug":"jj-single-dose-vaccine-effective-against-delta-variant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/jj-single-dose-vaccine-effective-against-delta-variant\/","title":{"rendered":"J&J single-dose vaccine ‘effective against Delta variant’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, Professor Glenda Gray, has assured South Africans that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is effective against the Delta variant, which is currently dominant in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cData from the Sisonke Study conducted among healthcare workers is showing that the J&J vaccine is effective, and reduces your risk of severe disease, hospitalisation, and death,\u201d Gray said at a briefing on Friday.<\/p>\n

Gray said the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has noted concerns from the public about the efficacy of the J&J vaccine against the Delta variant. These concerns largely stem from research conducted by New York University researchers, which showed that the single-dose J&J vaccine was far less effective at preventing Coronavirus infections from the Delta and Lambda variants.<\/p>\n

Gray pointed out that the results from this research are from experiments conducted with blood samples in a laboratory in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hearing reports that people want a boost, and that the J&J vaccine doesn\u2019t work against the Delta variant.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we want to tell you – from South Africa, from our experience – that we have evidence locally that the vaccine works against the Delta variant,\u201d Gray said, adding that both the J&J and Pfizer vaccines work against the Delta variant.<\/p>\n

Gray additionally cited a Harvard University study, which showed that the immune responses are long-lasting, even up to eight months, demonstrating that \u201ca boost is not needed at this stage\u201d.<\/p>\n

Gray insists that the single-dose vaccine is active against the Beta and the Delta variants of concern, while full vaccination with Pfizer increases protection as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a terrible pandemic, terrible excess deaths and we\u2019ve lost our loved ones, friends and colleagues. We need to ensure we\u2026 use our vaccine strategy to control the pandemic in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Professor, since the outbreak, the country has recorded over 200 000 excess deaths related to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

She believes that the only way to control the spread of the virus is through global immunisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody does need to be vaccinated, not just 20% or 30%, but everybody,\u201d she said.  <\/p>\n

Gray said 26.8% of the world\u2019s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, accounting for about 3.17 billion doses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk-benefit favours vaccination over not being vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rare side-effects<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gray said there have been rare but serious side-effects that have been reported with the use of the vaccines.<\/p>\n

These include myocarditis (or heart inflammation) that is linked to mRNA vaccine or Pfizer, while the J&J vaccine has been associated with thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, which caused the Sisonke Study to be halted for two weeks.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Gray said Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome (GBS) has been associated with these vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also want to tell you that if you look at the rate per vaccination per side effect, you can see that the benefit of getting the vaccine is better.\u201d<\/p>\n

GBS is defined as the condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves.<\/p>\n

Gray said the condition has also been linked to other vaccines, including influenza and childhood shots.  <\/p>\n

She said GBS might cause muscle weakness, which could lead to difficulties in physical exertion, including things such as climbing stairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it does happen, it\u2019s important to seek medical care because you can manage it. The risk is higher in men and those over 50-years-old,\u201d she explained.  <\/p>\n

However, she reiterated that both the J&J and Pfizer do save lives.<\/p>\n

Mild side-effects<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, other well-known complications may include pain or swelling in the arm, fever, fatigue, headache or simply feeling ill, which usually resolves after a few days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you feel that you\u2019re having side effects and that you\u2019re feeling unwell after the vaccination, it\u2019s important to contact your healthcare provider,\u201d she advised.  <\/p>\n

Long-term effects<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition, she said serious side-effects that could cause long-term health problems are extremely unlikely following any vaccination, including COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccine monitoring has historically shown that side-effects generally happen within six weeks of receiving a vaccine dose and it\u2019s unlikely to happen after six weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of people have received COVID-19 vaccines, and no long-term side effects have been detected,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Globally, Gray said they will continue to closely monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf scientists find a connection between a safety issue and a vaccine, the regulators and the vaccine manufacturers will work toward an appropriate solution to address the specific safety concern.\u201d \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, Professor Glenda Gray, has assured South Africans that the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine is effective against the Delta variant, which is currently dominant in the country. \u201cData from the Sisonke Study conducted among healthcare workers is showing that the J&J vaccine is effective, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-195991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/jj-single-dose-vaccine-effective-against-delta-variant.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}