covid 19 updates March 1, 2021
Channel: Krazy Ray
Date: 01/03/2021

Johnson & Johnson's vaccine ships this week. It is 66% effective at preventing mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, and 93% effective at keeping people who do get the disease out of the hospital.
The new COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson that will arrive at sites across the country this week is the third vaccine authorized in the U.S., but it is the first to require only one shot. On the whole, demand for vaccine still far exceeds the supply of doses available. And meanwhile, officials say the spread of new variants is, quote, "worrisome." NPR's _ Aubrey is following all of this and joins us, as she often does on Mondays. Good morning, _.
_ Let's start with the good stuff. How many doses of that Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be available this week?
_ 3.9 million doses are ready. Of that, the vast majority will be allocated to the states and local jurisdictions. I spoke to Claire Hannan of the Association of Immunization Managers about all the other distribution channels.
Eighty thousand are going into the retail pharmacy program, so they'll be going directly to the pharmacies. Seventy thousand doses are going to large-scale clinic sites, and then 90,000 doses are going into the FQHCs. So, you know, we should see them going into arms this week.
_ The FQHCs are the Federally Qualified Health Centers. So this certainly helps boost supplies, Noel, but so far, about 50 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose. That's 20% of the population - of the adult population. So the country still has a very long way to go.
_ Although it's so interesting to see those numbers tick up over time. Now, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine isn't as effective overall at preventing coronavirus illnesses when you compare it to Pfizer and Moderna. We've had reporting on that. Is there any concern that some people might say, no, I want one of the other vaccines?
_ You know, it is possible. I mean, the studies show it's about 66% effective overall in preventing COVID-19 illness compared to the 95% or so for Moderna and Pfizer. That doesn't sound so good. But what infectious disease experts keep saying and keep repeating is that this vaccine is very effective at preventing what's most important - hospitalizations and deaths, more than 90%. And with supplies so tight, Noel, there just isn't much personal choice here.
_ Your best bet is to take what is available first. That is the case that Dr. Fauci made yesterday on NBC.
All three of them are really quite good. And people should take the one that's most available to them. If you go to a place and you have J&J and that's the one that's available now, I would take it. And if I would go to a place where they had J&J, I would have no hesitancy whatsoever to take it.
_ He says, really, the time is of the essence here. The goal is to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible.
_ So in the meantime, public health officials are concerned about these new variants that are emerging. And so you've learned that vaccine makers are in the process of developing booster shots to cover them. Do you think this means a future where we are all getting COVID shots the way we get a flu shot, like, every October, November?
_ Well, it is possible. It's not exactly clear what will be needed, but all the vaccine makers are working on this. The virus has mutated, as we know. We hear about the variants that emerged in South Africa and Brazil. And if you look at the results of the Johnson & Johnson trials, it was studied in South Africa and Latin America and was found to be about 61% to 64% effective against mild to moderate disease. So if the variants from these regions were to spread, more vaccine makers could retool the vaccines to make them more effective. I spoke to infectious disease Dr. Judy Guzman-Cottrill of Oregon Health & Science University about this. And she says exactly what you were saying. Just as the flu virus mutates annually and the vaccine is adjusted annually...
You could envision something similar for the COVID-19 vaccine next winter where the vaccine covers many different strains or many different spike proteins so that our bodies make antibodies against different spike proteins, which will cover many variants.
_ So the final chapter of vaccinating against coronavirus has not been written, and vaccine makers are just trying to stay ahead of this.
_ Let me ask you about some news that will hopefully be useful. So the CDC says that people who have been vaccinated should still wear masks and avoid crowds, which has led some people to say, but then what is the point of the vaccine? Can you help with that one?