- One hospital is offering an mRNA vaccine dose to people who had a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
- Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital made the decision in conjunction with San Francisco’s Department of Public Health.
- Health officials are referring to this as a “supplemental dose” rather than a “booster dose.”
One advantage of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is its one-and-done convenience.
But amid concerns over its effectiveness against the highly contagious Delta variant, a San Francisco hospital is offering people who’ve received the J&J vaccine a second dose of either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna-NIAID.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital made the decision in conjunction with San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, reported ABC7 news.
Health officials are referring to this as a “supplemental dose” rather than a “booster dose.”
Dr. Chris Colwell, chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General, told ABC7 that this is because the extra dose that people will receive is not specific for the variants.
Both Pfizer and Moderna are developing new versions of their mRNA vaccines that target certain variants. But they’re also testing to see if a third dose of the original formulation — also a “booster” — increases protection against variants of concern such as Delta.
Whatever you call this extra dose, the goal is to provide people with additional immune protection against the coronavirus.
But do people who’ve gotten a single dose of the J&J vaccine need a booster? And if so, when?
Source: healthline