Instant View: J&J COVID-19 vaccine is 66% effective globally

FILE PHOTO: Vials with a sticker reading, "COVID-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only" and a medical syringe are seen in front of a displayed Johnson & Johnson logo in this illustration taken October 31, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/File Photo

(Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said its single-dose vaccine was 72% effective in preventing COVID-19 in the United States but a lower rate of 66% was observed globally in the large trial conducted across three continents and against multiple variants.

In the trial of nearly 44,000 volunteers, the level of protection against moderate and severe COVID-19 was just 57% in South Africa, where a particularly worrying variant of the novel coronavirus is circulating.