Which Covid Vaccine is better?

JadedCPN, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2021

1 hour ago, Mywords1 said:

I doubt that I will get a choice. Why you think we will? I am on the early list for it, (because of age and lungs) but eligible population is large where I live and the website says nothing about the company brand.

I read that baseball great Hank Aaron took the vaccine and died 2 weeks later. He was in his 80s.

Hank Aaron died in his sleep of natural causes.

turtlesRcool · Feb 21, 2021

The more I read, the more excited I am by the prospect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being available. Maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Okay, Turtles, why would I want to get the vaccine that's 66% effective vs the vaccine that's 94% effective? Why would I want a vaccine that got a D when there are two out there that scored As?" Well, my Allnurses friends, those numbers are misleading for several reasons. Read on.

First, given the timing and location of the trials, it's pretty clear that J&J would have done better if it had trialed earlier before virus mutation (and we see that with the 72% efficacy rate in the US vs the 57% in South Africa where most cases were the B.1.351 variant). It's also likely that Moderna and Pfizer would have been less effective had they gone up against the variants. We see this with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is quite effective against the original and the B.117 mutant in the UK, but is so ineffective against B.1.351 that South Africa is not even using the does they bought. Those vials are literally warehoused because they're not worth using there. Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson&Johnson are all reported to be working on boosters for variants because this is a known issue.

Second, the different companies used different criteria and timelines with their measurements, so it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison. The 66% overall efficacy rate for J&J is against moderate to severe disease. Moderate was defined as a positive lab test for COVID plus a symptom at 28 days. So, say you got the J&J vaccine, tested positive and had some diarrhea and loss of smell at 28 days - bam - you would be counted against their numbers. But if you were in the Moderna trial, and the exact same thing happened, your case would not be included because at 28 days you would be due for your second dose, and Moderna didn't start counting its positive cases until 2 weeks after dose #2.

Third, Johnson & Johnson is effective in the way it matters most - prevention of severe disease. At 28 days, the J&J vaccine was 85% effective at preventing severe disease (defined as needing hospitalization). And the vaccine got better with more time, even without a booster. After 49 days there was not a single hospitalization or death. None. That held true across all age groups and all regions, including South Africa. The only hospitalizations/deaths after 49 days were in the placebo wing of the trial.

Bottom line: there's a single shot vaccine that can be stored in an ordinary refrigerator that basically guarantees that no matter what variant you are exposed to, you will survive and won't need hospitalization (85% efficacy against severe disease after 4 weeks and 100% efficacy at 7 weeks). That is amazing to me! Yes, it would be great not to test positive or have even mild symptoms, but from a public health standpoint, we're not shutting things down because there's a virus that makes people feel crappy while they recover at home. We're worried about a virus that hospitalizes and kills them, and the J&J vaccine has spectacular results against severe disease.

Tozz · Feb 23, 2021

On 2/21/2021 at 7:44 AM, turtlesRcool said:

The more I read, the more excited I am by the prospect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being available. Maybe you're thinking to yourself, "Okay, Turtles, why would I want to get the vaccine that's 66% effective vs the vaccine that's 94% effective? Why would I want a vaccine that got a D when there are two out there that scored As?"

I received the J&J vaccine the first week of December in a Stage 3 clinical trial. They are currently enlisting subjects for a second dose of J&J. This is just speculation, but J&J may end up being nearly as effective as Moderna and Pfizer with a second dose.