The Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines look set to join Pfizer and Moderna in obtaining FDA approval in the near future and by spring there could be four different vaccines in use.
Tulane School of Medicine Professor Dr. Lisa Morici said each vaccine is unique and has its own efficacy but know the best one for you to take is whichever is available first.
“Know that whatever vaccine you are getting, whether it is a one-dose or two-dose vaccine that it is going to save your life, and the lives of your loved ones as well,” said Morici.
AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna all are two-dose vaccines with varying lengths of time between doses. Johnson and Johnson is a one-dose vaccine.
So why have J&J and AstraZeneca taken so long to be approved? Morici said for AZ it comes down to a mistake in a clinical trial where people getting a half dose were seeing more protection than those with a full dose.
“It took them some time to troubleshoot and find out why that was the case and it seems like now it was actually not a matter of doses but a matter of time, or interval between the first and second doses,” said Morici who adds the wait period between AZ shots has been set at three months.
For J&J Morici said the delay comes down to the fact that the company didn’t secure as much early federal funding as Pfizer and Moderna, and thus had to wait longer to begin clinical trials.
Morici said once AZ and J&J get approved we will see a major uptick in the number of weekly vaccinations, particularly because the J&J vaccine is only one shot.
“The fact that it does not require a second dose means that one vial is going to go twice as far because we don’t have to save it for that second dose,” said Morici.
Another vaccine, NovaVax, is expected to be approved in the summer.
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