San Francisco will allow people who have received the J&J vaccine to get an additional dose of vaccine

San Francisco Department of Public Health officials said Tuesday they were making an “accommodation” for those who saw a doctor. This is not a recommendation or a change in policy, officials said.

“We do not recommend. We are responding to requests,” Dr Naveena Bobba, deputy health director of the department, said at a press briefing. “We have received a few requests based on patients speaking to their doctors and that is why we are authorizing accommodation.”

Doses will be available at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

The city’s health department is aligning with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which currently does not recommend booster shots to anyone, including recipients of the J&J vaccine, Bobba said.

With the Delta coronavirus leading to an increase in Covid-19 cases, there is conflicting information about the effectiveness of the J&J vaccine against the strain. Some people hope to boost their immunity by supplementing their J&J vaccine with an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna.

Johnson & Johnson said in early July that data shows its vaccine confers immunity that lasts for at least eight months and appears to offer adequate protection against the disturbing variant of Delta.

A test-tube study later in the month, which was not peer-reviewed, suggested that people who received the single-dose vaccine might benefit from a booster dose. The study found that being fully vaccinated with any of the mRNA vaccines provides people with a strong and broad response.

Bobba said additional vaccinations will be recorded in the same way as all Covid-19 vaccinations.

“These are coming into the system, just like other doses, and the patients who received them will be monitored, just as others (who) received the vaccines across the country have continued to be monitored,” he said. said Bobba.

Each vaccination site in the city will choose how to proceed with accommodation, but “they are expected to have had a discussion with a health care provider upon arrival,” said Bobba.

The mRNA vaccines manufactured by Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna require two doses for complete immunization.