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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden, struggling to convince Americans that he's improved their lives as he runs for reelection, hailed his administration's Tuesday announcement that several drugs would be targeted for Medicare's first-ever price negotiations. The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, diabetes treatment Jardiance and eight other medications. The negotiation process was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed last year, capping decades of debate over whether the federal government should be allowed to haggle with pharmaceutical companies. Any lower prices won't take effect for three years, and the path forward could be further complicated by...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday that it would limit who can receive the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Covid-19 shot due to the serious risk of blood clots. The FDA announced that it would limit the authorized use of J&J Covid-19 shot to individuals 18 years of age and older for whom other authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines are not accessible or clinically appropriate, and to individuals 18 years of age and older who elect to receive the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine because they would otherwise not receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The change is being made after the investigation...

The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J's vaccine. U.S. authorities for months have recommended that Americans starting their COVID-19 vaccinations use the Pfizer or Moderna shots instead. FDA officials said in a statement that they decided to restrict J&J's vaccine after taking another look at data on the risk of life-threatening blood clots within two weeks of vaccination. J&J's vaccine was initially considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it required only one shot. But the single-dose option proved less effective...

Johnson & Johnson has quietly stopped its production of COVID-19 vaccines at a facility in the Netherlands late last year, New York Times reported. The facility in Leiden, Netherlands was the only known location that was creating usable doses of the J&J COVID-19 vaccine. According to the report, the halt is temporary and will resume production again after a few months. The NYT reported that the facility has instead been making an experimental but potentially more profitable vaccine to protect against an unrelated virus. New York Times reported:The American company, which has already fallen far behind on its deliveries to...

Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has halted production of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, according to a New York Times report. The pharmaceutical company last year quietly shut down production at a plant in Leiden, Netherlands, which was the only facility where usable doses of the vaccine were manufactured, catching some of its customers off guard, the report states. Johnson & Johnson has instead been using the plant to work on an experimental and potentially more profitable drug that could protect against an unrelated respiratory virus, according to the report.

People who get both Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and booster shot have high protection levels against the Omicron variant, a new study out of South Africa says. The study released Thursday in pre-print has yet to be peer-reviewed but is promising news for those who received the one-dose vaccine six to nine months ago and who also get a booster from the company. Protection against hospitalization jumped from 63 percent to 85 percent after a second J&J shot, according to the study conducted in November and December among 69,000 vaccinated health care workers. “This data is important given the increased...

Following the results of the ENSEMBLE 2 study, which demonstrated improved vaccine efficacy of a two-dose regimen of Ad26.COV.2 vaccine given 2 months apart, we expanded the Sisonke study which had provided single dose Ad26.COV.2 vaccine to almost 500 000 health care workers (HCW) in South Africa to include a booster dose of the Ad26.COV.2. Sisonke 2 enrolled 227 310 HCW from the 8 November to the 17 December 2021. Enrolment commenced before the onset of the Omicron driven fourth wave in South Africa affording us an opportunity to evaluate early VE in preventing hospital admissions of a homologous boost...

The CDC Advisory Committee will be presented new data today. 👀 “…nine deaths related to the issue have also been reported.” https://t.co/5bfwUHGo8y — Ramin Farzaneh-Far MD (@rfsquared) December 16, 2021

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine produced virtually no antibody protection against the omicron coronavirus variant in a laboratory experiment, underlining the new strain’s ability to get around one pillar of the body’s defenses. The vaccine appears to provide some defense against omicron, perhaps via other means such as stimulation of immune cells, according to Penny Moore, a South African virologist. The findings are consistent with other studies that show a partial loss of potency against COVID-19 for a number of vaccines, with J&J’s antibody protection looking particularly weak in the lab test. Moore, a professor at Johannesburg’s University of The Witwatersrand,...

(CNN)Using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as a booster for people initially immunized with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine produces a strong immune response and may do more to elicit protection against severe disease, researchers reported Sunday. Their small study of 65 volunteers who all initially got two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine showed that using the J&J Janssen vaccine as a booster produced a slower but more sustained antibody response against the original strain of the virus, as well as the Delta and Beta variants, they said.... ...after four weeks, antibody levels began to drop off in people who got boosted with...

SNIPThey found that a person who received the vaccine was 3.5 times as likely to develop brain blood clots as an average person before the pandemic.SNIP

Devolution of COVID vaccine efficacy. pic.twitter.com/Tlm3SAG0OT— Kelly Bee 🐝 (@ke11ybender) October 15, 2021

People who received Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine have higher antibody levels if their booster shot is from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, a new report suggests. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has allegedly collected data showing that mixing-and-matching is more protective than getting two doses from the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company, a person who has seen the data told Axios. NIH officials plan to present the findings during a meeting of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) vaccine advisory committee on Friday. It comes as J&J has asked the FDA to approve a shot of its own single-dose...

Johnson & Johnson: Children Don’t Need the [bleeping] COVID Vaccine Because There Are ‘Unknown Repercussions Down the Road’ … Want to ‘Punish’ Unvaccinated Adults and Turn Them Into ‘Second-Grade Citizens’ for Not Complying with MandatesBrandon Schadt, Johnson & Johnson Regional Business Lead: “It’s a kid, you just don’t do that, you know? Not something that’s so unknown in terms of repercussions down the road, you know?” Schadt: "Kids shouldn't get a [bleeping] [COVID] vaccine." Schadt: “It’s a kid, it’s a [bleeping] kid, you know? They shouldn’t have to get a [bleeping] [COVID] vaccine, you know?” Schadt: “J&J is like stepping...

Lou Fischler thought he’d finally nailed down a deal with his 25-year-old son on the coronavirus vaccine. The dad would co-sign a loan — if the son would get the shot. “I told him, ‘Look, you can get this Johnson & Johnson vaccine,” Fischler said. “It’s one shot and you’re done.’ I just really wanted to protect him.” But when Fischler started searching Orlando clinics and pharmacies for the single-dose vaccine, it seemed almost no one had it. In fact, what was once seen as the conquering hero of the COVID-19 battle — a one-and-done wonder that needed only standard...

The White House announced Friday that Dr. Anthony Fauci, medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said he expects Americans who received the one-dose J&J vaccine against COVID-19 also will be recommended for a booster shot. Federal health officials have said it’s likely that those who received the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine will need a booster as well. They are still analyzing the data on that vaccine. More guidance for Johnson & Johnson recipients is expected in the coming weeks.

Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson are still confident that their vaccines can protect against COVID-19 variants despite a recent report warning about hundreds of breakthrough infections in a Massachusetts town. The new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused on an outbreak in the Cape Cod town of Provincetown, a heavy tourist hotspot in Barnstable County, after the July 4 weekend. Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson told Fox News that they remain certain that their vaccines prevent severe illness and death despite the alarming report amid the spread of the Delta variant. Moderna, the third major COVID-19...

The San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital said Tuesday they are allowing patients who received Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine to get a second shot produced by either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. J&J recipients can make a special request to get a “supplemental dose” of an mRNA vaccine, city health officials said in a statement to CNBC, declining to call the second shots “boosters.” J&J’s vaccine requires only one dose and recipients are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the shot.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to extend the shelf life on Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from four-and-a-half months to six months.In a July 28 concurrence letter (pdf), the FDA said Johnson & Johnson had provided sufficient data to support the extension of the company’s vaccine to six months, including for already expired batches, provided they have been stored within the required temperature range of between 36–46 degrees Fahrenheit (2–8 degrees Celsius).Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that it is “pleased” with the FDA’s decision, adding that the pharmaceutical firm had provided the agency with...

Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are conducting early stage research into whether potential modifications of their Covid-19 vaccines could reduce or eliminate the risk of rare, but serious, blood clots associated with the shots.