With three coronavirus vaccines now approved in the United States, what is the difference between vaccines and should you opt for one over the other?
According to medical experts, the three vaccines currently available in the United States offer a certain level of protection and you should get everything available as soon as possible.
Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines have been circulating in the United States for the longest time, both requiring two shots for complete protection.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine also offers strong protection against severe COVID-19, according to an analysis by U.S. regulators.
One thing is clear from medical experts: get any vaccine that is available to you.
“All three are really good and people should take what is most available to them,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a late February appearance on “Meet the Press.”
“If you go to a place and you have J&J and that’s what’s available now, I’d take it. I personally would do the same,” he said. “I think people need to be vaccinated as quickly and as quickly as possible,” he said.
As the release of COVID-19 vaccines continues across the country, many of you still have questions about exactly what you can do and what you should avoid after the vaccine. Dr. Jay Wolfson, associate vice president of the University of South Florida Health, joined LX News to answer some common questions.
Here’s what you need to know:
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 like 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, 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 serious diseases, 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 Chicago’s “Vaccinated State” panel recently.
“Part of my messaging 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 keep me from getting 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.”
As COVID-19 vaccine trials for children begin, many parents are likely to be skeptical about enrolling their own child as a subject. So we got Peter Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner and president of the Center for Medicine of Public Interest, to explain how vaccine trials for children work and how researchers ensure their safety.
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 the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines 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.
When Dr. Jill Baird, a physician at the Providence Cancer Institute, began a study with her husband Jason on how the COVID-19 vaccine benefits pregnant and lactating women, she also aimed to be a test subject. She offered her own breast milk for antibody testing after receiving the vaccine herself. Look to find out what they discovered.
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 pain at the injection site and flu, fatigue, and flu-like headaches. No study participants experienced a 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, about 15 vaccine receptors and 10 placebo receptors were reported, there is not enough difference to know if the vaccine had any role.
As the nation prepares to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines, it is important to understand the side effects. This is what doctors say people can expect.
Are there other options?
Additional vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novavax could also be approved in the US
Distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine was briefly halted in several European countries due to concerns that it could be related to blood clots, but the EU agency that manages prescription drugs later said there was no connection and that the vaccine is safe.
Novavax, which is the least known of the other vaccines, is also on the horizon.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has been discontinued by some European countries following the notification of blood clots in some patients who received it. Regulators are now working to determine if these clots are due to the vaccine or simply by chance. Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, immunologist and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, explains how AstraZeneca differs from other available vaccines and why she believes it will be considered safe.