New York Daily News
In an entirely worthwhile eagerness to encourage people to accept the coronavirus vaccine, public health officials and government leaders in December touted the effectiveness of the Pfizer (95%) and Moderna (94.1%) inoculations to prevent symptomatic COVID-19 infection. It was persuasive, and the supply can’t keep up with the demand.
But whether you call that well-meaning effort scientific transparency or clever marketing, it is boomeranging, as the newly available Johnson & Johnson shot effectiveness of 66% is making too many Americans view it as a lesser medication and making them less likely to take it. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. J&J prevents death 100%. J&J prevents hospitalization 100%. On the most critical need, J&J is the exact same as the other two vaccines.
Even for preventing minor COVID sniffles and aches and pains, J&J may not be far off from its Pfizer and Moderna counterparts. The two earlier vaccines were field tested before the U.K., Brazil and South Africa variants arrived, while J&J patients were exposed to those versions of the virus. So an equal comparison would lower the numbers for Pfizer and Moderna. That also means that had J&J been tested under the same conditions, its number would be higher.
Normally, no one but a virologist would know or care about a vaccine’s efficacy. The doctor or nurse says here’s a shot for the flu or the measles and sticks it in your arm for your own good and for the good of everyone else.
All of this just means that there can’t be COVID vaccine shopping. The best vaccine is the one that you can get quickest. All these medicines will keep you alive, and all of them will keep you out of the hospitals. And as production keeps growing, there’s no reason why people can’t get also get an additional vaccine from another manufacturer. But get that first one first.
A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. That truism goes for COVID vaccines as well.
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