What's going on?

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday, as the healthcare giant sticks with the clean-living habits it picked up over lockdown.

What does this mean?

You�d have thought J&J would�ve made hay during last year�s health crisis, but the pandemic � which put surgeries and treatments on hold � proved just as disruptive for the company as anyone. Now, though, it�s come back swinging: revenue from J&J�s medical device segment grew 8% last quarter versus the same time the year before. The part of J&J�s business that has benefited from all the chaos, meanwhile, is going from strength to strength: the company�s pharmaceutical division � which sold over $500 million worth of its single-shot vaccine last quarter � saw revenue climb 14% from a year ago.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Get that vaccine out pronto.
J&J also upped its profit forecast for the full year, probably because its vaccine is still in high demand. Not just domestically, but overseas too: only 3% of adults in low-income countries have had the jab, and J&J�s single-shot offering � which is easier to transport and store than the two-dose alternatives � is the perfect contender to boost that stat (tweet this). It�d better get cracking: economists reckon 16.5 billion more shots will be needed to vaccinate the entire world, on top of the 6.5 billion administered so far.

Zooming out: What goes around keeps coming around.
J&J�s saved plenty of lives with its vaccine, so it�s probably a bit irked that no one can give it a pass for its cancer-causing baby power from a few years back. The company had to set aside $4 billion last year alone to deal with the allegations, and it�s still facing tens of thousands of legal cases. So now, it�s decided to create a separate business altogether � one that has less money to its name in a wily bid to force litigants to settle for less.