With Johnson & Johnson receiving an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA over the weekend, the US now has three effective COVID-19 vaccines at its disposal, a scenario that would have seemed implausible even five months ago.
While Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines share a number of similarities — both rely upon the same mRNA technology and both have an impressive efficacy rate of 95% — Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 is markedly different. For starters, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine doesn’t rely on mRNA technology and was instead based on the adenovirus, the virus responsible for the common cold.
