All three COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States will help save lives and reduce hospitalizations. But the newly authorized Johnson & Johnson shot has some key benefits that experts say could help make the vaccination campaign fairer.
Unlike the first two vaccines, manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can be stored in the refrigerator and take only one shot to protect humans from COVID-19. It can be sent to community clinics, which are equipped to reach people in rural areas or who do not have regular contact with the health system. Because it requires only one dose, it can help vaccinate people who are difficult to reach twice, such as people who are homeless. Officials can also easily bring it to prisons and prisons. All of these groups are also at high risk of catching COVID-19 and becoming seriously ill.
“This vaccine could make it easier to reach an out-of-proportion group,” Sarah Oliver, an epidemic intelligence officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told an advisory committee meeting over the weekend. The committee’s COVID-19 working group agreed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would improve the vaccine in the US. So far, Black and Hispanic people in many states have been vaccinated at low rates, and communities hardest hit by the pandemic are the longest to be vaccinated.
Mass vaccination sites have the facilities and staff to handle the Moderna and Pfizer / BioNTech vaccines, which need to be stored in freezers and which require two doses. These massive sites can get thousands of doses running every day, but can be inaccessible to people who do not have a car or easy transportation. The website in East Hartford, Connecticut, for example, is not accessible by city bus. So far, 82 percent of the people vaccinated there are white. Only about 30 percent of the people living in East Hartford and Hartford are white.
These sites are also not designed to reach people or make contact who may be reluctant to be vaccinated. “They are not there to advise you,” Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of Public and Regional Health Officials, said in an interview with The New York Times. “You’ll get the chance, the end of the story.”
Some countries are already planning to use some of their doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine to reach groups that are more difficult to vaccinate. Washington State tell CNBC it can use it to vaccinate people working in the fishing industry, working in shared housing on ships. The city of New York plans to use it to vaccinate older homes. “We will let nurses and other medical professions go by apartment to those who cannot even leave their apartment and make sure they are safe,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference this month.
Doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be limited to start. Just under 4 million doses are being sent to states this week and nothing will be sent next week. The company says they will have a total of 20 million doses available by the end of March.