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Coronavirus Watch: Johnson & Johnson applies for emergency authorization

Grace Hauck   | Paste BN

Johnson & Johnson, whose single-dose COVID-19 vaccine provided 66% protection against the disease in international trials, has requested emergency-use authorization from the FDA.

  • The J&J vaccine demonstrated higher effectiveness in U.S. trials (72%) than in overall testing, though it didn't perform as well as the vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna (both above 94%).
  • The J&J vaccine has two distinct advantages: It requires only one shot – the company is exploring whether a second one would improve protection – and it can be stored at refrigerator temperatures. The other two vaccines need to be frozen.
  • The company said it expects to deliver 100 million doses before the end of June, if granted authorization. 
  • The FDA's advisory committee will meet Feb. 26 to discuss the application for emergency use authorization.

It's Friday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news that you need to know:

  • The Senate early Friday set the stage for the passage of a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package that President Joe Biden is pushing. The 51-50 vote to approve a budget resolution paving the way for Biden’s American Rescue Plan fell along party lines with every Democrat in favor and every Republican opposed. Later, House Democratic leaders expressed confidence that Biden’s COVID relief bill would pass Congress before March 15, when enhanced unemployment benefits are set to end.
  • More than 1,000 active duty troops will begin supporting vaccination sites around the U.S., starting later this month in California, White House senior COVID-19 advisor Andy Slavitt announced Friday.
  • The U.S. government will be supporting six additional companies to surge at-home COVID-19 test supplies to more than 60 million by the end of summer, the White House COVID-19 Response Team announced Friday.
  • An estimated 631,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19 by June 1, according to the latest forecast from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
  • The White House is studying a proposal to send masks to all Americans, a notion the Trump administration considered but discarded. "There are a range of options on the table to help protect more Americans from the coronavirus and encourage people to mask up,'' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday, adding that no decision has been made on the idea.
  • California workplace safety regulators announced Thursday that San Quentin State Prison, a state prison rocked by one of the nation’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, has been hit with by far the largest pandemic-related fine yet against an employer in the state.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has reported more than 26.7 million COVID-19 cases and 456,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been more than 105.1 million cases and more than 2.2 million deaths.

See the numbers in your area here, check out where cases are rising here, and see how many vaccines your state has received here.

– Grace Hauck, Paste BN breaking news reporter, @grace_hauck

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