By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) stock was trading higher during Friday’s premarket trading as findings from a small lab study indicated that the company’s single dose COVID-19 vaccine may be effective against the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
In laboratory testing, the vaccine triggered a strong immune response in blood samples taken from eight vaccinated people, J&J said Thursday. The company released the high-level findings through a press release, not a detailed peer-reviewed study.
After the virus originated in China in 2019 and spread to other countries, it has mutated several times. Delta is a variant that first emerged late last year or early 2021 in India and is now the most prevalent and also the deadliest virus in most countries.
All vaccines in the market including those from J&J, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)-BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Gamaleya and Sinovac have been developed based on the original virus.
Vaccines that show a high degree of effectiveness against mutations of the virus - of which many will surely follow - have a batter chance of gaining market share as the world prepares for a long campaign against Covid-19.