Aa
Aa
A
A
A
Close
3191940 tn?1447268717

Which COVID vaccine would you choose, and why?

If you were able to pick any of the COVID vaccines currently available, which one would you choose? I am going to be way down the list, so by the time my turn comes up, I'm likely to be able to choose.  My husband is hoping to get the J&J vaccine, because he's a severe needle-phobe, and you only need one dose of that one (at least for now).  I would like to get the Pfizer vaccine, because of the high rate of efficacy, and the fact that you get the shots 2 weeks apart, so you're fully protected more quickly than with the Moderna vax.

What would be your choice? If you've already been vaccinated, are you satisfied with the one you received?
9 Responses
Sort by: Helpful Oldest Newest
Avatar universal
No need to choose, all have been researched and tested on volunteers, each has miniscule side effects otherwise would not have been given the licence
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Well, actually, none are officially licensed.  They are all approved for emergency use because we are in an emergency, but none have gone through the usual approval process.  Frankly, we didn't have time for that.  What they did was ask for more data than they usually would at an earlier stage so it's something in between the usual emergency process and the usual approval process.  So far, only one company, Pfizer, appears to be seeking regular FDA approval but nothing official yet.  While all have been researched, none has been researched as much as is usually required for a full drug approval.  While all were tested on volunteers, none were tested as long as is usually required.  But in practice, they have all used technology that has been around for a long time, none was revolutionary in that respect, and had amazingly good results in an amazingly short period of time.  Those who hesitate because we're being used as guinea pigs aren't wrong, but if you understand the usual drug approval process. we're used as guinea pigs for those drugs as well.  I do personally believe if you have an option to choose, why not go with the ones that tested the best?  But even that's a little misleading, because since the various vaccines were tested in different places and at different times with different variants around, it's impossible to know for certain which ones tested the best, but I can say I chose to get an mRNA vaccine because they have shown much greater effectiveness at preventing covid than the others.  Sputnik appears to be pretty good, but we can't get that one and the data isn't all that transparent.  The Chinese vax also isn't available to us, but appears to be the worst one out there.  So there is some difference, although all appear to be good at preventing hospitalization and death.  The fact two drugs are both researched and tested doesn't mean they came out with equal results, is I guess what I'm saying.  Peace.
Avatar universal
How long the antibodies will remain high after taking the Covid-19 Vaccine
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
The only way this can be known is to monitor antibody levels in the populations who have gotten the vaccine. The earliest group to get the vaccine was the brave volunteers in the vaccine testing phase. Since this vaccine is so new, that was not very long ago.  From testing antibodies in that group, the companies can tell so far that the protection lasts at least six months. It could last a lot longer, but not enough time elapsed yet for them to know when the protection might wane. (There just aren't people out there who had the shot longer ago than that.)

The companies are also working on boosters to address the  new variants of the virus, for example, the South Africa variant.

Watch the news. There is a whole lot written about the length of time the protection has so far been proven to last, and new development of boosters.
Avatar universal
спутник
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
If you live in Russia or a former SSR, Sputnik would be the one, for sure.
Avatar universal
Я только что переболела КОВИД19. Прививаться пока не собираюсь.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
I think they do recommend getting a Covid vaccine even if you have had Covid-19, just that you wait a while first. A friend had (and got well from) Covid-19 a few months ago, and she just got vaccinated a couple of weeks ago. It is not known how long the immunity will last, but so far they think the immunity from having had the disease will not be as long-lasting as the immunity from the vaccine. Which, of course, they don't know how long it will last either. :)
134578 tn?1693250592
To get back to the original question, if I could choose (and I know I'll just get what they offer), I'd choose to take one of the Pfizer/Moderna type, and THEN the Johnson & Johnson on top of it. I'm convinced! lol

That's me being in a very different space than I was when they first began to develop the vaccines, when I was nervous that they were doing things in haste. But the results have been so spectacular -- you can't argue with success. And with the new variants, what would it hurt to have all the coverage you can get.

Obviously I'm not going to be a pig or secretly sneak in and try to get a J&J shot on top of the Moderna, or anything. The rest of the world will need to be vaccinated before I think about anything like that. But if, in six months, I'm walking around in a pharmacy at closing and they announce they have some J&J shots that are going to go to waste if they don't give someone a shot, I might line right up. Can't believe what a difference in attitude this is for me.
Helpful - 0
4 Comments
Has the Johnson and Johnson vaccine been authorized as a booster shot? I’ve had both Pfizer doses, but thought about that as well maybe getting the J&J one also down the road, but would wait first to see if it would be approved or okay to get that one as a booster dose.
No, I haven't heard that any of the vaccines, let alone Johnson & Johnson's, can be used as the second shot for any of the others. And since J&J comes at the virus from a different angle (using adenovirus) than do Moderna or Pfizer (which use messenger RNA), it's probably the last one they would test to see if it could act as a second shot to the other brands. This doesn't stop me from wondering if (once a lot of time has gone by and it could be ethically seen as not needed by someone else in the world),  the J&J shot might be good to get additionally). On the other hand, it might merely be redundant, like getting two polio shots.
I chose to get the BioNTech or the Moderna because the numbers were much much better.  If J&J is all that's available, get it.  But if you've had one of the other two, the J&J won't give you something you don't already have.  Research just came out on Moderna and I think the BioNTech as well, and they are incredibly effective not just at keeping you out of the ICU and dying, which J&J does well, they are also incredibly effective at keeping you from getting any form of covid.  This means if we could get everyone to take these vaccines, and we can't now and nobody's trying to do that, we might actually eliminate covid from the face of the Earth because it won't have much chance of finding a host.  The first shot of either Moderna or BioNTech, if this data holds up to scrutiny, is 80% effective a preventing any covid infection, not just a severe case.  After the 2d shot, 90%.  J&J doesn't have those numbers.  Sputnik might.  NovaVaxx might.  But J&J and AstraZeneca aren't as effective, and that is just the way it is.  On the other hand, again, if that's all that's available, by all means get it, because all the vaccines are pretty much 100% effective at preventing death.  But because many who have had covid and lived still have a lot of problems because of it, my choice was informed by what data we have, knowing in the long term it might turn out to be false.  But so far it's turning out to be true.  Now, the problem is, will enough people in the world get vaccinated and quickly, because if they don't, variants that evade all of the vaccines can form, as happens with the flu vaccine, which isn't very effective at all.  So the important thing is to get everyone vaccinated, and that means the whole world, and that will be a very hard thing to do both financially for poorer countries and also to overcome the religious and political hesitancy of too many people to get vaccinated.  I agree, though, I didn't think I'd be rushing out to get this vaccine, it was so rushed and I had so little trust in the Trump Administration's honesty and that of so many other populist leaders in the world today that I was going to wait, but the data was great, the disease way worse than I could have imagined, and I got my first shot at the first opportunity my state gave me.  Peace, all.
All of the vaccines are good. Weather you like Trump or not to get these vaccines this fast was nothing outside of a miracle. Having to bypass all the government red tape that would have cost us years and many more lives lost in my opinion was the best decision for the entire nation and the world. My entire family got Pfizer shots one and two and outside of having a sore arm which we all have with most vaccines there were no side effects. One thing is you cannot mix the shots if you start with Pfizer or Moderna you have to get the second shot with that as well. You cannot get the J and J as a booster shot because it works differently from the other two. Do your research and you can see for yourself that they both work differently.
Avatar universal
I’ve gotten the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine about two weeks ago and it’s still a 21 day period you have to wait to get the second dose. I just had mild pain at the injection site for a day and Tylenol relieved it. My parents have had both doses of moderna, and they had fatigue and chills the second dose and were fine the next day.
Helpful - 0
3191940 tn?1447268717
Oh, I will most certainly get whatever version is offered to me, as soon as it is offered to me!  I just know that we will be so far down the line that we might have a choice.  At the end of the day, the best vaccine you can get is the one you can get in your arm the soonest.

I was just thinking of this today because my parents - age 81 - just managed to get their first dose today.  They got Moderna, and I've heard a lot of people have heavy side effects after the 2nd dose.  They only last a day or maybe a day and a half, and are just uncomfortable, so obviously WAY better than getting COVID.
Helpful - 0
5 Comments
STAT magazine said in late February, "With the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, side effects are more common after the second dose. Younger adults, who have more robust immune systems, reported more side effects than older adults." So, a) maybe it's not just Moderna that's having side effects, and b) maybe your parents won't have a lot of trouble with side effects, since they aren't "younger adults." I haven't heard any of my relatives that have gotten vaccinated complain about side effects other than a sore arm.
So just got my Moderna shot, first dose, yesterday, and I must say, the sore arm is a lot worse than I expected.  Never had any vaccine do anything to me I could notice, so this was a surprise.  Still hurts.  Don't know if it was the person getting the shot or just me or that because this vaccine uses such a novel technology the body reacted this way.  No other side effects that I can tell.  I have also heard the 2d dose can be a bear, but have to wait 4 weeks for that.  Sure don't want a sore arm like this one again, but it will pass.  I have read about side effects in older people after the 2d shot, so it can happen, and I've heard people who noticed nothing.  As usual, people are just odd and we have to accept that we can't predict how we'll react.  When you get to be 68, as I will be in a month, you've had a lot of vaccines in your life, and again, I've never felt anything with any of them.  The shot itself I didn't feel at all.  I did want to say, I heard on the news the Novavax vaccine, which I believe had results in trials more like the moderna and biontech and much better than the Johnson and Johnson, is about to get emergency approval, so it's another to look into.  I'm wondering if the vaccines that use technology similar to past vaccines are just easier on folks that this new one.  The Moderna and BioNTech use RNA directly injected into your body, while the others trigger the body to make its own RNA to respond to the vaccine.  Maybe that makes some difference, but also might account for why those two vaccines were so much more effective in trials than anyone expected.  Peace, all.
And to add, how robust your immune system is has a little to do with age, but a lot to do with the state of your immune system and what you want your immune system to do.  Covid appears to take advantage of a strong immune system if it's too strong if covid can get past it in the first place and infect you.  It's harder to get past a strong immune system but if it does, it takes over the response.  Perhaps the vaccine does this as well, as it's trying to trigger an immune response of the kind that prevents the virus from infecting you or if it does from doing so in a serious way.  A lot of young people have overactive immune systems or underactive ones, as they tend to eat much worse than older folks do and also tend to use a lot more drugs and alcohol.  So who knows?  The very very young haven't been hit that hard probably because they don't have a developed immune system yet covid can take advantage of -- just a theory.  Again, who knows?  
I'd be interested to see if anyone is recording whether the reaction the second time is worse or better if you have a sore arm the first time. One theory is that the first shot hits a body that has no antibodies to Covid at all, and so the body doesn't react (much), but that by the time the second shot comes, the body has some antibodies to Covid and so (therefore, supposedly) reacts more. If that idea is true, then a sore-arm reaction the first time might mean that the body did recognize Covid as something to fight, and that things won't be worse the second time. (Just an idea! lol) I will say, my little sister, a medical worker, has had both of her shots. She said it wasn't a big deal and she didn't have a lot of reaction to either one. She and I both get sore arms from flu shots, so it's possible it "not being a big deal" in her book means she would shrug off a sore arm. But she definitely did tell me she didn't have it worse the second time. So, cross fingers!
Talked to a friend last night who has had both Moderna shots, he's a year older than I am, and he had no side effects to speak of at all.  He does know someone who got some bad effects from the second Pfizer shot, and he's kind of dying from recurrent pancreatitis if it doesn't somehow stop happening so you'd think he wouldn't have the strength others have right now.  So there you go.  Who knows?  I don't think the muscle pain has anything to do with antibodies, but again, I'm not sure about that, I think it has more to do with the shot being right in the muscle and so it's very localized reaction whereas an antibody reaction would be felt more in the more severe reactions some get, such as fever, chills, and really bad headaches.  So we'll see in a month.
168348 tn?1379357075
I qualified in my state for health issues and had my 1st dose of Pfizer on Jan 18th and the 2nd on Feb. 18th.  Extremely satisfied with it, as well as the mega-site where it was administered.  There was a 3 week-wait period for the 2nd dose, and some moderate side effects were experienced, but it was so worth the benefit of the vaccine and the hope it brings to all of us. ~ ChitChatNine
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I think the Pfizer is 3 weeks apart.  I just got the Moderna because when you schedule an appointment you get what they've got when it comes to the two 2 shot vaccines Moderna and Pfizer.  I didn't have a choice.  Your state will have what it has unless you wait until after pretty everyone who wants one has gotten one, at which time there will be an excess of supply, but right now and for the foreseeable future, you'll probably only have a choice between a 2-shot and the Johnson and Johnson.  It may also be in your state or your county you will have no choice at all, because the gov't has now pretty much become a full partner with Johnson and Johnson and teamed up with Merck to help make tons of it.  So again, you may not have that choice you think you will have, or you might.  I have to tell you, getting a vaccine isn't easy.  It's not fun.  It takes time to get your appointment if that's how your state is doing it.  It took me well over a month after I first became available to get an appointment, and even then it took me two tries to get one.  I can't tell you if I'm satisfied, as I've just gotten the first Moderna dose.  Don't know yet if I'll get any side effects, but it's been almost 2 hours and no side effects yet.  But satisfied?  How would you ever know?  None of them is 1o0% effective, so you can still get covid, you still have to wear the mask, you still have to social distance unless you're with others who have completed their vaccine plus 2 weeks.  As covid mutates, there are variants that may evade the vaccine.  We don't know yet.  One already has done some of that, the South African variant.  The longer we go without the entire world getting vaccinated the more variants there will be, and so we will not be done getting vaccinated no matter which one you get.  My own preference was for one of the 2-shot because they showed higher effectiveness against getting covid at all, not just severe cases, but they also didn't do their trials when the variants were rampant.  Johnson and Johnson did, and that may account of the big difference, but we just don't know.  None of them is FDA approved, they are emergency approved, so none of them did what all the other drugs and vaccines we take go through to get approval.  And keep in mind that if you wait long enough, the Novavax was 90% plus effective, the Russian Sputnik was that high as well, and the AstraZeneca at a mistaken dose also turned out to be that high.  Johnson and Johnson is only one shot, which is good, but it also has the lowest effectiveness against getting mild to moderate covid, which can lead to long haul covid, of all the vaccines out there other than the Chinese one.  All of them will keep you from dying or probably from ending up in the ICU.  Advice is to get the first one available to you because the faster we all get vaccinated the fewer hosts the virus will find and will therefore stop mutating, but that all will require enough Americans and enough of everyone in the world to get the vaccine, and at least so far Republicans are saying they aren't going to get vaccinated because it's become a political issue in the US.  The willing number is going up, so we can only hope.  A lot of minority communities are also showing hesitation to get vaccinated.  So no matter how you put it, it depends and what it depends on lacks sufficient info for us to know and you won't know when it's your turn either, it will still be too soon.  We'll truly know in a few years.  But my choice, for whatever it's worth, was to go for the 2 shot.  Peace.
Helpful - 0
Have an Answer?

You are reading content posted in the COVID19 Community

Didn't find the answer you were looking for?
Ask a question
Popular Resources
Learn more with our FAQ on Ebola.
A list of national and international resources and hotlines to help connect you to needed health and medical services.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.