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Alabamians should not hesitate to take Johnson & Johnson’s new COVID vaccine when it becomes available, even though the efficacy figures are less impressive than the vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, chief executive Dr Scott Harris said Thursday. of public health.
“It’s a vaccine that prevents death and even prevents serious illness and hospitalization at the same rate as other vaccines,” Harris said. “And so, the best vaccine to take is the one you gave yourself.”
The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve emergency use authorization for a third COVID vaccine, this one developed by Johnson & Johnson, in the coming days.
The J&J vaccine also has some advantages over the other two. It only requires one dose and does not require the same type of freezing as other vaccines.
While the reported effectiveness of the J&J vaccine in preventing any type of disease is around 72% – compared to 95% for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines – Harris said data from clinical trials of the vaccine show it protects still the recipients of severe COVID illness and death at the same rate as the other two.
“In terms of preventing serious illness and hospitalization and preventing death, they’re all three equal, they’re all three, in fact, the same,” Harris said. “No one who received the J&J vaccine died from COVID. And, in fact, no one who has received the J&J vaccine has had a severe allergic reaction like we have seen with mRNA vaccines.
And in a situation where there aren’t enough vaccines for everyone, Harris said this third option is a welcome tool to get more people vaccinated and reduce the spread of the disease.
“Please don’t buy them and don’t wait because you think it’s better than another,” Harris said.
What is efficiency?
The term efficiency is used roughly to refer to efficiency, but there are many misconceptions about what it actually means.
For example, some might assume that if the Pfizer vaccine shows 95% effectiveness, 5% of people who take it still have COVID. It’s not correct.
According to data from the Pfizer clinical trial, in a trial that involved more than 43,000 participants, only eight people tested positive for COVID after receiving the two-dose vaccine, compared to 162 in the placebo group. The researchers then calculated that the injections reduced participants’ chances of getting COVID by 95%.
Some of the J&J trials were also conducted in South Africa, where a new, more transmissible variant was very prevalent, so just looking at the efficacy numbers may not be a true apple-to-apple comparison.
How much, how long?
Harris said he had no information on how much J&J vaccine Alabama will receive when and if emergency use clearance is granted, but the rollout launch may take longer.
He said he saw media reports that J&J had between two and three million doses ready to ship, but had not received any word from the government or J&J on what to expect.
Because vaccine allocations are based on population, Harris said Alabama typically receives about 1.5% of the amount made available nationwide, or 15,000 doses per million products manufactured.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had ramped up production and started sending doses to states before their emergency use permits were granted, but Harris said that had not yet happened with J&J.
“We know the J&J vaccine will not be pre-positioned in states ready to go the Pfizer and Moderna product path,” Harris said.
J&J told Congress this week that it plans to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million by the summer.
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