A Brooklyn man learned Monday that he had tested positive for coronavirus – more than two weeks after receiving the jab.
Matthew Sambolin, 39, told The Post that although he opted for the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine because it was “convenient”, he now wishes he had received the Pfizer or Moderna shots instead.
“The risk was there, I was willing to take it. Now I want to make a different decision, “he said in a phone call from the spare bedroom of his home in Bath Beach, where he is currently in quarantine.
Sambolin said he was experiencing minor symptoms, including a mild cough and fatigue.
While a quick test he did on Saturday came back negative, a PCR test, which is more accurate, was positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, according to documentation he provided.
“It was a shock,” Sambolin said of his positive test on Monday.
Sambolin, operations manager for two local radio stations, said he had “no ambivalence” about the COVID vaccine and was looking forward to receiving it.
“I wanted to help lift the herd’s immunity,” he said.
Sambolin also said that he considered it important to get vaccinated to help keep his young daughter, Nora, who is almost two years old, safe, and for the sake of the employees she manages.
He was shot on March 24 at the NYPD Community Center in East New York, according to his vaccine card.
Sambolin wanted to get the J&J jab because he wanted to be vaccinated when he drove to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina that weekend.
Wednesday – the two-week mark since he was shot, which is when experts say he will be considered fully vaccinated – Sambolin believes he was exposed to the virus through a co-worker who later tested positive for COVID.
During the pandemic, Sambolin says he took all recommended precautions, including wearing a mask and social distance, and that he has not been on public transportation for more than a year, although he still goes to the office.
After it was found out on Saturday that his colleague came with the bug, Sambolin and his wife were tested at the local CityMD. Both her rapid test and PCR were negative.
Sambolin said he decided to tell his story after seeing another cover of people who received the J&J jab and then came with COVID, including The Post’s stories about a Brooklyn woman who tested positive three weeks after her vaccination and a New Jersey man hospitalized with the virus five weeks after the shooting.
Sporadic cases of post-vaccine horror stories have appeared in local news across the country. Health experts say that although vaccinated people can still catch the bug, it is much less likely to happen than people who are not inoculated.
“The vaccine does not necessarily prevent you from getting COVID. It prevents you from being hospitalized or dying because of it, ”Dr. Kris Bungay, a Manhattan doctor who assisted the mayor, previously told The Post. “That’s why we all need to be careful.”
“It has not been common in clinical trials for patients to be symptomatic after vaccination,” Bungay added.
Moderna and Pfizer two-dose vaccines are 94% and 95% effective, respectively, in preventing symptomatic coronavirus infections after two doses, according to the CDC. The J&J single dose vaccine offers only 66% protection.
Sambolin said he hoped more people would consider the data before they were shot.
“I still think that vaccination is definitely the way to get the herd’s immunity,” he said, but “I hope they really consider weighing the different effectiveness.”
