What you need to know if you’ve taken or are about to take the coronavirus vaccine
It seems like there is always good news and bad news when it comes to the allocation and distribution of the coronavirus vaccines, and much of what comes out can be confusing. So here are some answers to common questions people are asking.
Which vaccines are available now?
The newest vaccine, a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for use in adults 18 and older received its emergency use authorization last Saturday.
On Sunday, the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued recommendations for use. On Wednesday, the Western States Safety Committee (WSSC) gave the vaccine the green light for use in the partner states of California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon.
Dr. Mark Sawyer said WSSC was instituted to provide another layer of safety assurance to the public that the COVID-19 vaccines were propelled by science, not politics.
Sawyer is a vaccine policy expert, professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego and Rady’s Children’s Hospital, and special member of the FDA advisory committee for COVID-19 vaccines and the WSSC.
The committee has agreed with the FDA review for the Pfizer, Moderna and J & J COVID-19 vaccines.
On Monday, J & J began shipment of the nearly 4 million doses that were immediately available, with the promise of 20 million doses by the end of March.
California is slated to get 320,000 doses of the J & J vaccine this week, according to CDPH in an email, which is about 60,000 less than Governor Newsom announced last Friday.
“We’re expecting a total of 7,880 doses this week,” said Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, Stanislaus County public health officer. “Some doses are Pfizer, some are Moderna and now likely we’ll get doses of the J & J vaccine.”
On Wednesday, the county announced that it was dropping the age requirement for those food, agriculture and education workers to get the vaccine at its clinics. Previously, the shots were offered only to those over 50.
Which vaccine is the best?
Vaishampayan said, “the best vaccine is the one available to you.”
Vaishampayan cautioned that people should not compare the efficacy rates for the J & J vaccine (about 72%) with that of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (about 94%), as they were tested at different times in the pandemic.
Sawyer and many other health experts echo Vaishampayan’s concerns about comparing the three vaccines directly.
“The J & J vaccine is not inferior. It’s important to remember that it wasn’t a head-to-head comparison.” said Sawyer, “There were likely fewer variant strains circulating earlier.”
“You can’t compare the vaccines. All three vaccines were protective against hospitalizations and death,” Vaishampayan said,” We really want to protect you from death.”
Generally, neither vaccine providers nor patients can choose the vaccines that are available to them.
CDPH has also been responsible for tracking all vaccine doses ordered, distributed and administered in the state. However, this is changing with the state’s contract with Blue Shield to assume responsibility for vaccine distribution.
What does the Blue Shield takeover mean?
“There will be some benefits as they (Blue Shield) have some resources that we don’t,” said Vaishampayan, “They are skilled at managing networks, but it’s unclear how local public health will fit into the vaccination strategies.”
She said that public health receives about half of the vaccine doses allocated to Stanislaus County, and they have no information about the other half of vaccines, making it impossible for them to tally doses delivered or administered.
“If Blue Shield is running things, it could be a good thing, as they can see all of the data and track the demographics,” said Vaishampayan.
The agreement with Blue Shield grew out of the perception that early rollout of vaccines was slow, but Sawyer said he thought the difficulties were related more to problems with bookkeeping than actual distribution.
Vaishampayan agreed and said, “I don’t think the rollout was slow, but the data system lagged.”
Some county officials across the state are not happy about Blue Shield as a third-party administrator, stating that they know their counties best.
“We all feel we were doing a great job trying to hit our health equity, trying to get the vaccine into communities where we know the need is because we know our own community,” said Dr. Maggie Park, San Joaquin public health officer in a report from CapRadio.
Even with Blue Shield taking over the administrative structure, CDPH will maintain the ultimate responsibility for designating the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines.
How many doses does Stanislaus County have?
Each week, CDPH tells the county how many doses are available to them. County public health collects orders from providers (who don’t get their vaccines directly from a federal pipeline) and public health places a “master” order within their allocation.
Vaishampayan said a total of about 90,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the county, but the complete demographics of the recipients are not available.
So far, neither the county nor the providers have been able to specify which vaccine they want.
“Usually we (public health) get more of the Pfizer doses, because it’s more difficult for providers to store,” said Vaishampayan.
What if I can’t get my second dose on time?
Both the Pfizer and Moderna trials evaluated two doses of their mRNA vaccine: Pfizer doses were at a 3-week interval and Moderna’s were given 4 weeks apart.
Because of the difficulties for manufacturers to maintain supplies, the CDC issued interim guidance for altered schedules. The second dose of either vaccine can be given 4 days early or as late as 6 weeks after the first dose, and still be considered “valid.”
However, the CDC does not recommend repeating doses if a second dose is not available within that window.The agency emphasized that the vaccines are not interchangeable.
The bottom line — get the second dose of the same product as the first dose when you can.
But, it is reasonable to seek a different source for your second dose. For example, if your first dose was at Sutter, you might not be able to get a second dose there because of a supply shortage. Obtaining a second dose of the same product at a retail pharmacy is an option. Be sure to take your official vaccine card to your appointment.
The MyTurn website is the main source for Californians to sign up for appointments. A COVID-19 Hot line at 1-833-422-4255 is also available for assistance.
This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
To help fund The Bee’s children’s health and economic development reporters with Report for America, go to bitly.com/ModbeeRFA
This story was originally published March 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "What you need to know if you’ve taken or are about to take the coronavirus vaccine."
