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20856219 tn?1541792336

Johnson and Johnson Booster Shot questions

So a family member of mine got the J&J vaccine, and we know that it's not very effective against the Delta variant. Now, with all the plans for booster shots for mRNA shots, what about J&J?

I hear some people are getting a Pfizer or Moderna shot now, and calling it good, but is that safe? Should they wait for official plans from the CDC?
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649848 tn?1534633700
I read this morning that J&J is working on a booster and those who had that shot will be able to get it when it comes out.  J&J vaccine came out a couple months after the others, so those vaccinated with it wouldn’t be able to get the booster right away anyway (the booster is 8 months after 2nd dose; single dose for J&J).  

The article I read said that we should stay with the same brand that we originally had, but since Pfizer and Moderna are, both, mRNA, it might be okay to “mix” them, but that’s not known yet.  If possible we should all stick with what we originally had.
Helpful - 0
134578 tn?1693250592
I've read that getting a second J&J vaccine might do as a booster, and also that getting an mRNA  (Moderna or Pfizer) shot after a J&J shot would do. (Though since you need two mRNA shots, a question to ask is if someone getting it after a J&J would need two.) Nothing I've seen has suggested it would be unsafe to get Moderna or Pfizer after a J&J shot.

That all said, since they are only apparently opening boosters to cancer patients and people with challenged immune systems right now anyway, maybe by the time they open boosters to the general public there will be better information on this question.
Helpful - 1
1 Comments
There is no safety data published on this, so nobody actually knows if it's safe or not.  Obviously, J&J didn't test whether it went along well with a Moderna, and vice versa.  There are people doing it, and I haven't seen any anecdotal evidence that it's caused any harm to anyone, but I guess we'll find out.  The reason you haven't heard anything about a booster except for Pfizer is that no other vaccine has the data.  It's assumed Moderna responds pretty much the same as Pfizer, as the two vaccines are based on the same technology developed by US gov't research going back decades, but interestingly, Mayo Clinic, one of the sources for the unofficial data reporting reduced effectiveness over time and against delta cites much less lowering of effectiveness of Moderna compared to Pfizer.  The data from Israel and UK which is mostly being relied on as the US is terrible at collecting data due to our private sector health care system, but Israel almost exclusively used the Pfizer and the UK used mostly the Pfizer and AstraZeneca, so Moderna probably has fewer people who have been studied so far.  J&J has not released any data yet, which is why we don't know; Pfizer did, and again, the countries that have supplied most of this data haven't used the J&J so they don't have data on it.  From recent reports J&J data is coming soon and given it didn't work nearly as well to begin with, it's probably going to show the same kind of problems.  All are apparently still doing well on hospitalization and death, though.  I'm also not sure we do know that the J&J is ineffective against delta.  It is apparently doing well with hospitalization and death.  I just don't think we know, as it's been slower at releasing this data.  The official guidance is if you do get a booster, get the same vaccine you got the first time around but again, they are only giving guidance at this point on the two Mrna vaccines, not on any others.  I thing again, this is because Pfizer released its data a while ago and has been pro booster for a while now.  The only question has been, is this in order to sell more vaccines or because it's necessary, and the experts are still arguing about it.  I would personally wait until you not only hear from the CDC but from the immunoligists and other experts who have been at the forefront since this whole thing started.  A great guy to watch on the news is Peter Hotez (probably spelled his name wrong), a vaccine specialist at TCU who has developed a vaccine.  He's a great source for unbiased info.
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