January now marks the deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and Florida as Johnson & Johnson could seek FDA emergency authorization for its COVID vaccine.


What You Need To Know

  • The emergency authorization could come as early as this month

  • Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is less expensive

  • It has no cold storage requirements

Last month, more than 79,000 people died across the country, and almost 5,000 just here in Florida. However, there is new hope with a third vaccine showing signs of a good fight against the coronavirus.

Johnson & Johnson could seek emergency authorization from the FDA early this month.

Phase three trial results are now out.

Johnson & Johnson is reporting its single-shot vaccine shows an 85% effectiveness against severe cases of coronavirus and 66% against moderate to severe cases.

That is still less effective than the already circulating Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but experts said it will still be useful in this coronavirus fight.

Health experts are still concerned about the threat of COVID variants, which could be more contagious.

"Wear a mask, stay six feet apart, avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. If we do all of these things, there is less virus spreading," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is less expensive and has no cold storage requirements.

Infectious Disease Expert and President Joe Biden's Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci is encouraged by the science.

"There essentially were no hospitalizations or deaths in the vaccine group. This really tells us that we have now a value added additional vaccine candidate," Fauci said.

Health officials in Seminole County said the state's new vaccine registration system has bugs that still need to be worked out, and they are urging people not to use it to pre-register.

To make an appointment for the Oviedo Mall site, you can use EventBrite.

Seminole County Emergency Manager Alan Harris said last week that officials are planning to scale back vaccinations because supplies are dwindling.

Meanwhile, Biden just upped his nationwide goal to 150 million vaccinations in his first 100 days in office.