A Brooklyn man learned Monday that he had tested positive for coronavirus, more than two weeks after receiving the puncture.
Matthew Sambolin, 39, told The Post that while he opted for the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine because it was “convenient,” he would now wish he had received the shot from Pfizer or Moderna.
“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 room of his Bath Beach home, where he is currently in quarantine.
Sambolin said he experienced minor symptoms, including a mild cough and fatigue.
Although a quick test he did on Saturday turned negative, the PCR test, which is more accurate, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, according to the documentation he provided.
“It was a shock,” Sambolin said on learning of his positive test Monday.
Sambolin, operations manager for two local radio stations, said he had “no ambivalence” about the vaccine against COVID and hoped to have his.
“I wanted to help boost the herd’s immunity,” he said.
Sambolin also said he thought it was important to get vaccinated to help protect his young daughter Nora, who is nearly two years old, and for the sake of the employees she manages.
According to his immunization card, he was shot March 24 at the NYPD Community Center in eastern New York.
Sambolin wanted to get the J&J punch because he wanted to get vaccinated when he was driving down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, that weekend.
On Wednesday, the mark of two weeks since he received the shot, which is when experts say he would be considered fully vaccinated, Sambolin believes he was exposed to the virus through a co-worker who then tested positive for COVID.
Throughout the pandemic, Sambolin says he has taken all recommended precautions, including masked disguises and social distancing, and that he has not been on public transportation for more than a year, although he is still going to the ‘office.
After learning on Saturday that his partner had fallen for the mistake, Sambolin and his wife were tested at the local CityMD. Both his rapid test and the PCR were negative.
Sambolin said he decided to tell his story after seeing another coverage of people who had gotten the Jab J&J and then came up with COVID, including The Post stories about a Brooklyn woman who tested positive for three weeks. after the vaccine and a New Jersey man hospitalized with the virus five weeks after his shot.
Sporadic cases of post-vaccine terror stories have appeared in local news across the country. Health experts say that while vaccinated people can still detect the error, the likelihood of this happening is much lower than that of people who are not inoculated.
“The vaccine does not necessarily prevent you from getting COVID. Avoid being hospitalized or dying, “Dr. Kris Bungay, a Manhattan primary care physician, previously told The Post.” That’s why we still have to take care of everyone. “
“It was not uncommon in clinical trials for patients to be symptomatic after being vaccinated,” Bungay added.
According to the CDC, Moderna and Pfizer two-dose vaccines are 94% and 95% effective, respectively, in preventing symptomatic coronavirus infections after two doses. The single-dose J&J vaccine provides only 66% protection.
Sambolin said he hoped more people would consider this data before shooting it.
“I still think that vaccinating myself is definitely the way to get the herd’s immunity,” he said, but “I hope they consider really weighing the effectiveness differently.”
