As more doses of Johnson & Johnson are available in Illinois, marking a third coronavirus vaccine option for residents, can you choose and should you?
According to medical experts, the three vaccines currently available in the United States, which include the recently approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, each offer a certain level of protection.
Already, COVID Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been circulating in the United States, both of which require two shots for complete protection.
But, according to an analysis by U.S. regulators, the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine also offers strong protection against severe COVID-19.
Here is a breakdown:
How effective is each vaccine?
The FDA said the J&J vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations, and death. A dose was 85% protective against the most severe disease of COVID-19, in a massive study spanning three continents, a protection that remained strong even in countries such as South Africa, where variants are widespread. more worrying.
Published results from a mass vaccination campaign in Israel showed that the Pfizer vaccine was 92% effective in preventing serious illness after two shots and 62% after one. Its estimated effectiveness in preventing death was 72% two or three weeks after the first shot, a rate that can improve as immunity builds up over time. Meanwhile, the Modern vaccine provides a similar level of protection, of 94.1%, and requires two shots, separated by 28 days.
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 Pfizer and Moderna two-dose options, all COVID-19 vaccines in the world have been tested differently, which makes comparisons are almost impossible, CNBC reports.
“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 this is a good year,” said Monica Hendrickson, administrator of public health of the county health department of Peoria. “Again, then, something that has high public health was, you know, we were expecting something above 40%. To get to 95%, even 65%, that’s a homerun.”
Hendrickson noted that each vaccine has a high effectiveness against death and serious coronavirus disease.
“So really, you’re seeing a distinction that from a clinical point of view, or from an epidemiological point of view, is much smaller compared to what we really expect, which is the decrease in death and the decrease in disease. serious, where they all coincide between the three vaccines, “Hendrickson said. “The most important thing, though, is that when these vaccines go on the market, if you have any option to get any of these, you get one.”
Hendrickson’s message echoes one made by Dr. Marina Del Rios, an emergency medicine specialist at the University of Illinois-Chicago, during NBC’s “Vaccinated State” panel last month.
“Part of my message to the community has been that market vaccines are equally effective and equally safe,” Del Rios said. “The best vaccine you can get is the one you can get first and getting vaccinated sooner rather than later protects us from the disease of ourselves and our community, which has been so terribly devastated by this virus.”
Dr. Arnold Monto, of the University of Michigan, who chaired an FDA advisory group that unanimously voted that the benefits of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine outweigh its risks, said the evidence shows no reason to favor one vaccine over another.
“What I think is what interests me most about people is that it will make me not get really sick?” Collins said. “Will it prevent me from dying from this terrible disease? The good news is that they all say yes to that. “
How are they different?
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines differ from traditional vaccines in terms of mRNA use. Instead of introducing a weakened or inactivated germ into the body, this vaccine injects mRNA, the genetic material that our cells read to make proteins in 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 enters your body later, your immune system will recognize it, according to federal disease control and prevention centers.
Johnson & Johnson and another AstraZeneca vaccine are also based on instructions to create the spike protein that gives the coronavirus its distinctive shape and that it uses to enter a cell. But they make use of DNA within an adenovirus, a common virus.
The J&J shot uses a cold virus like a Trojan horse to transport the ear gene to the body, where cells make harmless copies of the protein to prepare the immune system in case the real virus appears. . It is the same technology used by the company to make an Ebola vaccine.
Pfizer and Moderna vaccines should 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, Britain and Israel, is made similarly and also requires refrigeration, but takes two doses.
What are the side effects of each vaccine?
Like Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J trait are injection site pain and flu, fatigue, and flu-like headaches. No study participants experienced the severe allergic reaction, called anaphylaxis, which is a low risk of some other COVID-19 intakes, although a less severe reaction was experienced.
The FDA said there had been no serious vaccine-related side effects so far, although it recommended additional monitoring of blood clots. In the study, these were reported to 15 vaccine receptors and 10 placebo receptors, there is not enough difference to know if the vaccine had any role.
Where can you get them in Illinois?
Doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been shipped to Illinois and Chicago since their approval.
A new mass vaccination site in suburban Des Plaines became the first large-scale center to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Illinois.
Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Tuesday that while the city received doses after Johnson & Johnson’s approval, no shipments have been shipped this week and neither has is expected next week.
“When you’re planning, it can be tricky to know. Hopefully there will be a week later, but there haven’t been,” Arwady said. “Our Modern vaccine has been flat, flat and flat for six weeks, right? We’ve received 26,050 first doses of Modern vaccine spread all over the city every week, first doses. And then our Pfizer has been going up like a a little bit “.
A new program for home residents in Chicago also has paramedics bringing doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to people’s homes.
Are there other options?
Additional vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novavax could also be approved in the US
“In addition to the three that have been approved or authorized here in the United States, we are monitoring AstraZeneca,” Commissioner Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said Thursday. “That’s in active use, isn’t it? It’s already in use in Europe and some other countries and it’s been, you know, it’s been doing its studies here … we’ll see. It’s not over yet, but there has been some speculation that, as you know, we could possibly see this vaccine in April. “
Arwady noted that the AtraZeneca vaccine “has had a good overall performance,” but there were doubts that it might not be as effective against the variant that emerged in South Africa.
“There’s been a little more attention in looking at the vaccine in this context, but overall it’s also been a very good vaccine,” Arwady said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw that someone could appear before the FDA in April.”
Novavax, which is the least known of the other vaccines, Arwady said, is another one he controls.
“Hundreds of companies have been looking at vaccines a bit, but I would say Novavax is the other one here in the United States and I’m watching to go further back in the trials, but their initial data looked good,” she said. “Could it be some kind of May for another vaccine? I think possibly.”