No Omicron deaths in J&J vaccine study in South Africa, scientist says
A healthcare worker administers a dose of the Pfizer coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine to a teenager, amidst the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron, in Johannesburg, South Africa, December 9, 2021. Photo :Reuters
No one has died from the Omicron coronavirus variant in a study of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa, one of the co-lead investigators of the study said on Tuesday.
"Although we have had a lot of breakthrough infections there has been very little hospital admission in comparison to the Delta period. And as of today we have had no one who has died from Omicron from the J&J study, so that's the good news, it shows again that the vaccine is effective against severe disease and death," South African Medical Research Council president Glenda Gray told a news conference.
