The mayor of London, London Breed, has been to a clinic in her hometown, Western Addition, to receive her COVID-19 vaccination today. Broad was one of a number of public officials who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as part of a PR campaign by the pharmaceutical company, and part of a campaign by health officials to convince the public that it was just as good is like the other two vaccines to prevent serious diseases.
“I know some people in our communities are concerned about whether they should get a vaccine,” Breed wrote on Twitter. “These vaccines are safe, effective and can save your life.”
Today I told San Francisco a year ago that we must stay home and save lives.
Today I am being vaccinated with the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine to show that all vaccines are safe and effective.
This is how we end the pandemic. Get vaccinated if it’s your turn. pic.twitter.com/iypJCvHSf8
– London Breed (@LondonBreed) 16 March 2021
Breed also said that vaccinations for the homeless population in San Francisco are likely to use the Johnson & Johnson shot, due to the more complicated logistics of getting people to return other vaccines for a second dose within a specific period of time. As the Chronicle reports, she said: “It was important for me to make sure that I not only get this vaccine, but more importantly, that I, as the leader of the city, prove that it is safe.”
And about the Johnson & Johnson shooting and homelessness, she said, ‘I want them to be able to say it’s the same shot the mayor got.’
There was a lot of misinformation about the efficacy of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – specifically the 66% figure quoted in the Phase 3 trial results. But this is misleading. The vaccine is 85% effective in preventing serious COVID cases – and 100% effective in preventing hospitalization and death of COVID. And as the New York Times reports, the overall effectiveness of the Johnson & Johnson shot may be equal to or greater than the effectiveness rates of the other two if all three are put side by side in the actual world trials – something that was not there. time for due to the emergency in the pandemic.
Breed planned her vaccination on the one-year anniversary of San Francisco’s shelter-in-place order at the Maxine Hall Health Center. Technically, she’s been eligible for several weeks, as the examiner remarks – she qualifies as an emergency worker who will be part of Phase 1B, which began in the city on February 24.
On Monday, March 15, the state of California expanded the suitability to include a list of serious underlying health conditions that could make people vulnerable to severe COVID cases. In San Francisco, the list of suitable conditions has expanded, and this includes especially people with less than severe obesity – people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, as opposed to the BMI measure of more than 40.
But given that food service workers, teachers, emergency services workers and others have only been eligible in recent weeks and are already having trouble finding available vaccine appointments, the extensive suitability on Monday only made appointments so rare.
Confidence in the vaccines has been hampered, especially in some color communities, which has been of concern nationwide, as the explosion of the vaccine needs nothing else to slow it down. According to city data, 31% of San Francisco’s population received at least one dose of vaccine, but in the Western Addendum, where Breed received her shot, only 3% of the neighborhood received a shot.
To encourage all San Franciscans to get vaccines if they can, Breed said, “You’re all done your part over the past year to keep each other safe. Let’s do it together again.”
Related: More of SF eligible for vaccine Monday: People with health problems, locked up in homeless shelters