New Hartford, NY – When it was announced on Wednesday that the MVHS in Utica received a vaccine shipment from Johnson & Johnson of New York State and would administer those doses on Saturday in its vaccination pod on Burrstone Road, just above the line from Utica in New Hartford, these vacancies were filled quickly on the State Department of Health website, and it wasn’t just local people who signed up.
Gloria Fletcher from Auburn signed up and was on her appointment in New Hartford early on Saturday morning and said she was more than willing to take an hour and a half trip, “I could have gotten Pfizer at the fair, but I don’t want Pfizer, I wanted Johnson & Johnson. “
It was just two weeks ago, on Saturday, February 27, that the US Food and Drug Administration approved the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, and since then, many people across the country have wanted to try and have certain that they received this specific vaccine because it is only one vaccine instead of two, such as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Gloria Fletcher was not the only one to make the long trip on Saturday specifically to get the J&J vaccine in New Hartford, Shawn Gilbert also took an hour and a half trip, but from Cortland, “I feel great about getting the J&J vaccine. One and ready. “
Bill West made the hour-long drive to New Hartford from Old Forge, “I wanted a single dose. I thought it would be much better than waiting three weeks for a second dose, and I could be receiving my immunity right away.
However, there are many people who do not want Johnson & Johnson because J&J clinical tests showed that the drug’s effectiveness was 66%, while the Moderna and Pfizer versions were above 94%.
Effectiveness, in this case, means preventing symptomatic COVID infection. The trial also showed that in people who received COVID after receiving the J&J vaccine, the drug was 85% effective in protecting against severe symptoms and there were no hospitalizations or deaths among people in the vaccine trial.
Shawn Gilbert of Cortland says he trusts science, “I feel like they wouldn’t have released it if it weren’t for something that wasn’t fully capable of doing the job.”
Some, like Gloria Fletcher from Auburn, say they feel more comfortable with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because there are not many reports of serious side effects since Americans started receiving the single dose vaccine nationwide almost two years ago. weeks ago, “I’ve heard a lot more side effects, especially from Moderna and Pfizer too, and I haven’t really heard anything (with the J and J vaccine), some pain, a rise in temperature maybe for a few hours later with a Johnson & Johnson. “
United States health officials say that when it comes to being vaccinated, get what you can, when you can. They say that all three vaccines are safe and all protect against severe cases of COVID and even death if you take it, in addition to each dose bringing the country closer to collective immunity.