he Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) coronavirus vaccine has been linked to a rare side effect, the immune system disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome. Of 12.8 million J&J doses administered in the United States, there have been about 100 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, according to preliminary reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Food and Drug Administration plans to add a warning about Guillain-Barré to the J&J vaccine, The Washington Post has reported.
The stock didn’t fall much on the news dropping 0.16% today July 11. But it seems likely that the news will damp the stock’s recovery from its June 18 low of $161.98. The stock traded at $171.07 on May 20. It closed today at $169.48.
The bigger negative effect comes from the way the news will increase vaccine hesitancy at a time when the spread of the more infectious delta variant is leading to a big uptick in infections. Confirmed cases in the U.S. soared 47% in the week ending Sunday, the largest weekly rise since April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
There had been hopes, dashed by news of manufacturing problems and side effects, that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires only a single dose instead of the two required in the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, would help control the pandemic in logistically challenged countries.
The world added 344,869 new cases of infection today.
