March 18, 2021 | 10:57pm | Updated March 18, 2021 | 10:57pm
A Johnson & Johnson technician works on a COVID vaccine candidate in Belgium on June 17, 2020.
Olivier Matthys/Getty Images
A nurse holds a J&J COVID vaccine at a shot center inside the Hilton O’Hare Airport Hotel in Chicago on March 5, 2021.
KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images
A Johnson & Johnson campus in Irvine, California.
MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images
Rev. Patricia Hailes Fears is given the J&J vaccine at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2021.
Kevin Dietsch/UPI
A man receives J&J’s vaccine at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2021.
Kevin Dietsch/UPI
A vial of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine at Northwell Health’s South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, NY, on March 3, 2021.
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Johnson & Johnson is working to develop modified versions of its COVID-19 vaccine that may be needed to protect against virus variants, a report said.
“We’re working on several next generations of vaccines,” J&J Chief Executive Alex Gorsky said Thursday during an online discussion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Gorsky expressed optimism that its current vaccine could offer some protection against new COVID-19 strains.
But, he said, “We have to be prepared,” the newspaper reported. “We should prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in late February.
The FDA affirmed J&J’s finding that the vaccine was 66 percent effective overall at warding off moderate and severe COVID-19 cases and 85 percent effective at preventing the most serious infections.
