As more Johnson & Johnson doses become available in Illinois, marking the third coronavirus vaccination option for residents, can you choose and should you?
According to medical experts, the three vaccines currently available in the US, which include the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, each offer a certain level of protection.
Already, Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines are circulating in the US, both requiring two photos for complete protection.
But according to an analysis by US regulators, the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine also provides strong protection against severe COVID-19.
Here is a breakdown:
How effective is each vaccine?
The FDA said the J&J vaccine provides strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death. One dose was 85% protection against the most severe COVID-19 disease in a massive study on three continents – protection that has remained strong even in countries such as South Africa, where the most worrying variants are spreading.
Published results from a mass vaccination campaign in Israel showed that the Pfizer vaccine was 92% effective in preventing severe disease after two vaccines and 62% after one. Its estimated effectiveness in preventing death was 72% two to three weeks after the first shot, a rate that can improve as immunity develops over time. Meanwhile, the Moderna vaccine offers a similar level of protection, 94.1%, and requires two photos, 28 days apart.
It is not known whether any of the three vaccines prevent the spread of the virus by asymptomatic people.
While overall efficacy data may suggest that the J&J candidate is not as strong as the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna options, all COVID-19 vaccines in the world have been tested differently, making comparisons nearly impossible, CNBC reported.
“If you make a comparison for the flu vaccines, which we do annually, the effectiveness of the flu can range from 40% to 60% – and it’s a good year,” said Monica Hendrickson, public health administrator for Peoria County Health Department. . “So, again, something that has a high public health was, you know, that we hoped to reach a little more than 40%. To reach 95%, even 65%, this is a homerun ”.
Hendrickson noted that each vaccine is highly effective against death and severe coronavirus disease.
“So, really, you’re looking for a distinction that, from a clinical point of view, or from, you know, an epidemiological point of view, is very minor compared to what we really hope for, which is the decrease in death and the decrease in severe diseases, where they all fit between the three vaccines, “Hendrickson said.” The most important thing is that when these vaccines come on the market, if you have an option for any of them, you get one of them. “
Hendrickson’s message resonated with one made by Dr. Marina Del Rios, an emergency medicine specialist at the University of Illinois-Chicago, on NBC’s “Vaccinated State” panel last month.
“Part of my message from the community was that the vaccines on the market are just as effective and just as safe,” Del Rios said. “The best vaccine you can get is the one you can get first and the vaccination. Sooner, sooner rather than later, it protects us from getting sick and our community, which has been so terribly devastated. of this virus. ”
Dr. Arnold Monto of the University of Michigan, who chaired an FDA advisory committee that voted unanimously that the benefits of Johnson & Johnson vaccine outweigh its risks, said the evidence shows no reason to favor one vaccine over another.
“What do people think I’m most interested in preventing me from really getting sick?” Collins said. “Will it keep me from dying of this terrible disease?” The good news is that all of this is happening. “
How are they different?
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines differ from traditional vaccines in the use of mRNA. Instead of introducing a weakened or inactivated germ into your body, this vaccine injects mRNA, the genetic material that our cells read to make proteins, into the muscle of the upper arm. It teaches your body how to produce the protein that triggers the production of antibodies, so that if the real virus later enters your body, your immune system will recognize it, according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Johnson & Johnson and another AstraZeneca vaccine are also based on instructions for creating the spike protein that gives the coronavirus its distinct shape and uses it to enter a cell. But I use DNA inside an adenovirus, a common virus.
J & J’s shot uses a virus as cold as a Trojan horse to carry the spike gene into the body, where cells make harmless copies of the protein to fuel the immune system if the real virus appears. It is the same technology used by the company to make an Ebola vaccine.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must also be kept frozen, while the J&J shot can last three months in the refrigerator, making it easier to handle. The AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Europe, the United Kingdom and Israel, is similarly manufactured and also requires refrigeration, but takes two doses.
What are the side effects of each vaccine?
Like COVID-19 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the main side effects of J&J vaccine are injection site pain and flu-like fever, fatigue and headache. No study participants experienced a severe allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, which is a rare risk of other COVID-19 photos, although one had a less severe reaction.
The FDA said there have been no serious vaccine-related side effects so far, although it has recommended additional monitoring of blood clots. In the study, they were reported in about 15 patients who received the vaccine and 10 patients who received placebo, there is not enough difference to say whether the vaccine played any role.
Where can you get them in Illinois?
Doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been shipped to both Illinois and Chicago since approval.
A new mass vaccination site in the suburbs of Des Plaines has become the first large-scale unit to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Illinois.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday that although the city received doses after Johnson & Johnson’s approval, no deliveries were sent this week and none are expected next week.
“When you intend, it can be difficult to know. Hopefully there will be some next week, but they didn’t exist,” Arwady said. “Our Modern vaccine has been flat, flat, flat for six weeks, right? We get 26,050 doses of Modern vaccine spread throughout the city every week – the first doses. And then our Pfizer has grown like a little bit . ”
A new program for Chicago residents also has paramedics bringing doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to people’s homes.
Are there other options?
Additional vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novavax could also potentially be approved in the US
“In addition to the three that have been approved or licensed here in the United States, we are keeping an eye on AstraZeneca,” Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Thursday. “That’s an active use, isn’t it? It’s already used in Europe and other countries and has been, you know, studied here … we’ll see. They haven’t been finished yet, but there has been some speculation that, you know, it’s possible we could see that vaccine in april “.
Arwady mentioned that the AtraZeneca vaccine “worked well on a large scale”, but there are fears that it may not be as effective against the variant that appeared in South Africa.
“There was some extra attention to examining the vaccine in this context, but overall it was also a very good vaccine,” Arwady said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that someone can go, you know, to be brought before the FDA in April.”
Novavax, which is the least known of the remaining vaccines, Arwady said, is another it is monitoring.
“Hundreds of companies have looked at vaccines in a way, but I would say that Novavax is the other one here in the US and they are a way to keep an eye on me to go further with my studies, but their initial data has looked good, “she said.” Could it be somehow possible for another vaccine? I think it’s possible. ”