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It started last week, when the US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended an extra dose for certain immunocompromised people who had received the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.
“Our J&J patients have not been overlooked or neglected. It’s just the way the data comes in,” said Schaffner, a professor in the Infectious Diseases Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
For J&J vaccine patients calling and emailing about boosters, he says they should wait.
“You can’t make good recommendations without the data,” he said.
However, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday that the company is collecting additional data to see if booster shots are needed.
“Ensuring long-term and sustainable protection against hospitalization and death is critical in curbing the Covid-19 pandemic,” the company said in an email to CNN. “Johnson & Johnson continues to diligently generate and evaluate evidence from ongoing studies and emerging real-world evidence as it assesses the need for a Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine booster.”
Different vaccines, different studies, different timelines
Many vaccines require more than one injection to provide complete protection. Some, like a tetanus shot, need an extra boost every 10 years because immunity wanes over time. Others, such as the flu shot, must be administered annually because each flu season brings new strains.
With Covid-19, scientists are still figuring out how long the protection lasts and how the vaccines work against different variants. That will all have to be determined by more research.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine works a little differently than the mRNA vaccines, which use a newer technology that delivers genetic material directly into cells via fat particles. J&J’s Janssen vaccine uses a viral vector, a common cold virus that has been genetically engineered to infect cells but will not multiply or spread in the body. It delivers genetic instructions to the cells and then trains them to identify and protect against the coronavirus.
And while there’s some evidence that immunocompromised people may benefit from a third dose of an mRNA vaccine, it’s still not clear whether immunocompromised people who received the J&J vaccine would benefit from getting another dose.
“We have reviewed the science and data almost daily to evaluate if and when boosters may be needed,” the CDC said in an email to CNN when asked about boosters for the general public and for the immunocompromised on Tuesday.
“As we said, boosters would probably be needed. We’ll be announcing more detailed plans soon, so we’ll have more to share by then. This will all be done in accordance with independent FDA and CDC review and recommendations.”
Mix and match vaccinations
It’s also not clear whether people who have received the J&J vaccine and who need a boost would benefit more from an additional J&J vaccine, or should receive a different vaccine type.
In parts of Europe, doctors mix and match the single-dose AstraZeneca vaccine — which is similar to the J&J vaccine — with an mRNA vaccine.
While Schaffner enthusiastically encourages everyone who has not yet received a scoop shot to get one immediately, for patients who have received the J&J vaccine and want a booster, he advises patience.
“Right now, all we can tell them is to sit quietly,” Schaffner said. “More information is on the way.”
Kaitlan Collins of CNN contributed to this report.
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Sources 2/ https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/17/health/johnson-covid-booster-wait-wellness/index.html The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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