Single Shot
The COVID-19 pandemic seems like it may be slowing down, with just a few weeks ago the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine tracker showing almost 58 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine given out. President Joe Biden even announced that his administration may arrive early at its goal of giving 100 million shots in 100 days. Nevertheless, the grim milestone of 500,000 American deaths has recently been reached. But will the pandemic ever go away? The answer is maybe but it will likely stick around like a virus like the flu rather than a full-blown pandemic. This recovery seems to have been factored in by markets months ago with optimism fueling a massive recovery from last year’s crash.
At the forefront of this recovery are two, now three companies: Pfizer, Moderna, and most recently joining the list Johnson & Johnson. Each of these companies has created a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each require two doses taken weeks apart, whereas the newly released vaccine from Johnson & Johnson can be take in one shot. This means in theory a faster recovery could occur and the projected time to reach heard immunity (November of 2021) could be sped up. But there are hurdles, first and foremost, last month, one in five Americans surveyed said they were opposed to taking the vaccine. On top of that, the JNJ Vaccine was found to be only 72% effective, much lower than Moderna and Pfizer’s above 98%. Some have pointed out that this claim may be flawed because when looking at severe COVID-19 cases the JNJ vaccine is 85% effective, like Moderna and Pfizer. Johnson & Johnson’s stock has risen in reaction to this news, but the next big challenge will be scaling production and distribution.
Do you think JNJ will speed up the recovery? Or will it not make much difference?
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
