Jan 30, 2021 – 09:41 Kyodo News Building of the company Johnson and Johnson in the Juan Carlos I Business Park in Madrid, it is an American multinational of medical, pharmaceutical and perfumery products, Spain.(Getty/Kyodo) WASHINGTON – Major U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson said Friday that its single-dose experimental vaccine was 66 percent effective […]

Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine 66% effective in global trial —

Many patients are now asking about which COVID-19 #vaccine would be best for them. I find it best to summarize questions into a list:

• The COVID vaccine is designed to illicit an immune response and headaches, fever, muscle aches are really not side effects at all, but rather your immunity “gearing up” to meet the real virus. There are now 2 vaccines that can do this, and one more probably on the way. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Patients who have allergies always want to know if it’s safe to take the COVID vaccine given the fact that they have allergies. It is recommended that all Americans, regardless of their allergy status, receive some vaccine in order to prevent COVID-19 infections.
• That being said, anyone can have a reaction to a viral vaccine, including COVID. These reactions can be anywhere from mild itching at the site of injection to anaphylaxis requiring assistance with your breathing. Yes, rates of these severe reactions are low, but here’s what’s important about allergic reactions to COVID vaccines: you can’t predict them.
• Previous reactions to non-COVID vaccines should be noted and those patients should wait longer at the injection facility (up to 45 minutes) to make sure they will tolerate any allergic reactions. But still, you can’t predict who will react and who will tolerate the vaccine just fine. Allergies involve IgE ; an antibody that is unique to asthma, atopic dermatitis, hay fever, and even the production of eosinophils. We use IgE to predict who will develop an allergic reaction, and because IgE is not involved with COVID-19 infections or immunization, we can’t predict who will react and who won’t.
• The Johnson & Johnson version of COVID-19 vaccination has not been approved by the FDA as of 2/16/21, but I expect it soon. This vaccine is DNA (not mRNA), but is implemented into the cell nucleus to produce the same Spike protein produced by both mRNA vaccines. Why the J & J version has fewer adverse events isn’t fully understood, but you’re likely to only get a mild fever with the DNA vaccination. What I like best about the J & J version is “one and done!”

So does the new vaccine work well enough to keep me from getting COVID? It is helpful to search Google for your own answers as I did with the above article from NEJM. Find ZDogg.com to help you with questions about the vaccine and laugh a little bit in the process. What does appear to be reasonable about the new vaccine is:

• Less effective compared to the 2 dose schedule (mRNA) in terms of MILD infection. In other words, you may still have cold like symptoms, but you won’t end up in the hospital, ICU, or death as we’ve seen so much with COVID-19.
• One vaccination is all you require for at least this season and with the variants we currently know about. Just keep in mind that the influenza vaccination changes every year because of variants–who knows if COVID will be the same?
• The CDC is your friend. Even though you may not agree with everything the CDC has done in the past year, they’re website gives you lots of great information that everyone can agree on. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html (right click your browser and it will take you there)
• We have so many options in fighting this year long COVID-19 pandemic and much information that is true can be found on reliable websites that I’ve mentioned above.

Whatever vaccine you decide to get, you’re working towards regaining our lives back–don’t give up now!

#anaphylaxis, #covid-19, #ige