San Francisco hospital offers dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine to people who have contracted J&J

• A San Francisco hospital allows people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to receive a dose of Pfizer or Moderna.

• J & J’s shot is perhaps the least effective against the Delta variant.

• But US regulators have yet to recommend additional doses or boosters for Americans.

• See more stories on the Insider business page.

It’s not a booster, according to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, it’s an “extra dose.” Starting at the end of the week, the hospital will allow people who have received the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine to receive a second injection of Pfizer or Moderna.

The hospital made the decision jointly with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, ABC 7 reported.

In a statement on Tuesday, the health ministry said it was “meeting the special requests” of recipients of the J&J vaccine, many of whom have already consulted their doctors about the extra dose. Residents of San Francisco will have first priority, but residents of other counties could also receive an additional injection if there is sufficient supply.

“We continue to align with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and do not recommend a booster injection at this time,” the department added.

Dr Chris Colwell, chief of emergency medicine at San Francisco General, told ABC 7 that the extra dose is not considered a booster “because it is not specific to some of the variants, so which will ultimately be the reminder “.

Pfizer and Moderna have indeed designed new versions of their mRNA injections, customized to combat some of the more worrying variants. Companies are still testing them, along with an approach that simply administers a third dose of the same formulation to see if that amplifies the protection. Both are considered “boosters,” according to the companies.

To date, vaccines continue to offer strong protection against serious illness or death. But J & J’s hit is perhaps the least effective against breakthrough infections caused by Delta, the most transmissible variant of the coronavirus to date.

The story continues

J&J announced in early July that its shot generated a strong immune response against Delta based on blood samples from vaccinated people. But a recent study from New York University (although not yet peer-reviewed) found that the antibodies produced by J & J’s shot were less effective at neutralizing Delta over time. (Antibodies aren’t the only form of immunity, however – B cells and T cells are often better indicators of long-term protection against the virus.)

“The message we wanted to get across was not that people shouldn’t get the J&J vaccine, but we hope that in the future it will be boosted with another dose of J&J or a boost with Pfizer or Moderna.” Nathaniel Landau, a virologist who led the NYU study, told The New York Times.

At least 2 public health experts have already “supplemented” their J&J vaccine with an mRNA vaccine

Researchers have not yet determined whether the boosters are necessary for the general public – although some countries have already allowed boosters for the elderly or immunocompromised, for whom vaccines are often less effective.

Pfizer and Moderna have both shown that a third dose increases antibody levels compared to a second dose. But a recent study from Rockefeller University that was not peer reviewed found that a third dose of these vaccines does not offer better protection against variants than the standard vaccination schedule.

Even before the Delta variant became mainstream, however, J & J’s shot was less effective than mRNA shots: the vaccine was found to reduce the risk of moderate and severe COVID-19 by 66% worldwide in clinical trials, while the gunfire from Pfizer and Moderna reduced the risk of symptomatic COVID-19 by about 95%.

John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University, told Insider in June that despite J & J’s unique approach, “it’s really, in my opinion, a two-dose vaccine.”

Indeed, two public health experts who received J&J have already taken it upon themselves to get an extra dose of mRNA.

Angela Rasmussen, virologist at the University of Saskatchewan, tweeted in june that she received a Pfizer injection to “supplement” the J&J vaccine she received in April. Jason Gallagher, an infectious disease expert at Temple University, told Reuters he was given an extra dose of Pfizer after participating in J&J’s trial in November.

Preliminary evidence suggests that mixing and pairing injections is safe and may improve vaccine protection, but more data is needed.

Have you chosen to receive an additional injection in addition to your initial vaccine? Send an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Multi-vax”

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