The Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes out amid concerns about bias due to poor publicity: NPR

As the latest coronavirus vaccine debuted, did the U.S. public have a new series of deliberations before entering their vaccine clinic – to go with a new arrival or to stick to two vaccines that have already entered the embrace of more than 50 million Americans?

Johnson & Johnson has the vaccine several clear advantages: only one bullet is needed and can stand in the refrigerator for several months.

Most importantly, the J&J version prevents people from being hospitalized and dying very well. It is 85% effective against severe forms of the disease, which is a rival to both Modern and Pfizer vaccines.

But there are also concerns that another top result could distort the perception of the footage.

J&J prevents 66% of coronavirus infections, a finding of a large global clinical trial that experts warn cannot be easily compared to the roughly 95% efficacy seen with the other two vaccines.

The mayor of Detroit announced it on Thursday rejected vaccine deliveries, saying he wants the “best” vaccine for his city.

“The public is sticking to some major details about these vaccines and that very simple number of efficacies, which, as we know, is not the whole story,” said Brian Wallace, captain of the Seattle Fire Department who oversees the city’s vaccine sites.

“I’m sure we’ll see people who think they’re being given a less effective vaccine,” Wallace said, adding that people are already rejecting Pfizer or Modern at vaccine locations in Seattle based on misinformation about safety, side effects and efficacy.

Exchanging public health messages around J&J is particularly inconvenient because efficiency numbers can obscure the nuances of how it has been studied. The trials were conducted in different countries during different pandemic times compared to the other two vaccines. And increasingly important: J&J has been tested in places where new, more dangerous versions of the virus are already circulating.

“All of these vaccines are extremely effective and there is no type of vaccine that is better or worse than any other,” said Jason Schwartz, an assistant professor of public health at Yale University.

Some hope the new footage could help further reduce the capital gap in the introduction, as it is suitable for reaching a population that does not have enough services and which cannot easily appear on another footage or reach a service provider offering two more.

New arrival

But the J&J presentation will also have to contend with the early impressions of Americans, including the possibility that some will consider it second-rate. It is a narrative that could gain momentum if the doses seem to target only certain populations with insufficient capacity.

“Somehow I feel like two shots would be better … I think that would be a bigger reinforcement,” said 86-year-old Robert Hampton of Tukwila, Washington, after being vaccinated at a city clinic in Rainier Valley, Seattle, for the most part. a non-white neighborhood severely affected by COVID-19.

Liberty Rothbaum, a teacher in Seattle, said she might have hesitated to show up and find only the latest footage there.

“That’s the only thing I cared about a little bit … Modern has been around a little longer, but at the end of the day vaccination is most important,” she said.

For others, however, the possibility of just one needle encounter is a big selling point for the J&J vaccine.

“Yes, because I’m a chicken,” said Loretta Orpilla, who was followed by Betty Ragudos to the vaccine site in Seattle.

“Just while it works [the vaccine] anyone is good to me, “Ragudos said.

Darrel Lewis ended up shooting from Pfizer because J&J was not yet available in Washington and some other western states.

“Somehow I wanted to arrange for one shot, but I just took what was out there,” he said.

The shootings begin

States have only just begun dosing the initial 3.9 million doses of J&J shooting, so it’s too early to know if any significant group of Americans will actually refuse the vaccine, especially when demand for injections still outstrips supply.

“The vaccine that is available to you – get it,” called Dr. Anthony Fauci of the NIH at a recent White House briefing.

“There is a place for all three vaccines, from hospitals to mass vaccination sites to more local sites and clinics in the community,” Yale’s Schwartz said.

States divide doses according to their own maps. Some spread them evenly among established vaccine sites, while others focus more on underprotected areas.

In Ohio, J&J footage also went through more than 200 independent pharmacies.

“There’s a little hesitation whenever something new happens,” said Aimee O’Reilly, who owns the O’Reilly family pharmacy in Worthington, Ohio. “They were certainly curious about the differences, but overall people were excited to get the doses.”

In mid-Missouri, Boone Hospital Center released its first 1,000 injections of the new vaccine on Thursday.

‘Some people actually contacted us and said,’ hey, this is what I’ve been waiting for, can I come in? ‘ “says the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Robin Blount.

The federal government has also set aside a portion of the first doses of J&J for federally qualified health centers – a welcome infusion for clinics, which care for lower-income people and often face barriers to vaccination.

“We are excited to have anything and everyone is equal in terms of doing what we have to do,” said Dr. Ron Yee, chief medical officer of the National Association of Health Homes.

“We’re not going to force anyone or try to please or convince anyone. We want to give them information, let them decide.”

Yee said the J&J vaccine makes sense for the groups they serve – people who are tied to a house, unprotected, moving seasonally or in places without access to transportation – but clinics will receive a combination of all three vaccines through a federal distribution program.

“It’s not that health centers will only get one vaccine that is superior or inferior to the others,” he said.

Messaging is key

In Valparaiso, Ind., Beth Wrobel acknowledges that a misperception about the J&J shooting could throw off the trail efforts to reach vulnerable groups.

“But I’m actually worried that the exact opposite will happen – will a lot of people want that and that’s it, and that goes for rich people?” wondered Wrobel, who is the CEO of HealthLinc. “I can take a day off, I can succeed [for two shots] – Our patients can’t. “

Wrobel thought a lot about messaging because her health center was part of the J&J clinical trial.

“We will keep coming back: no one was hospitalized and no one died, just like the others [vaccines],” she said.

The best antidotes to possible concerns about the new vaccine are trust and time, said Teresita Batayola, president of the International Health Service (ICHS), which serves the large Asian immigrant population in Washington state.

Batayola thinks adding another vaccine is unlikely to bring back the result, though he hopes ICHS can offer both Modern and J&J so patients can choose.

“People are still concerned about protection from COVID-19,” she said. “It will only increase our ability, we can vaccinate twice as many people with just one dose.”

At a recent vaccine clinic in the Seattle International District, none of the older Cantonese-speaking adults expressed concern about the shooting.

“Patients have no preferences,” said Sunny Hwang, who oversees the ICHS clinic.

Lee, a woman in her seventies, said she followed government advice to get the vaccine as soon as possible.

“Her family, friends – everyone wants to get the vaccine,” Lee said, speaking through an interpreter.

Another patient said her relatives were initially nervous about taking any vaccine because of rumors that people would die after the shooting.

That changed as the weeks went by.

“They saw a lot of people get the vaccine and everything is fine, everyone is fine and everyone wants to get it,” she said.