(CNN) – The United States is one step closer to having a third COVID-19 vaccine, and it may not arrive soon enough.
With people calling for an injection, it was good news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analysis of data from the Johnson & Johnson study showed that their vaccine is safe and effective.
Here’s what that could mean for you.
How soon will the J&J vaccine be available?
It could be next week.
The vaccine has a few more steps to follow before the FDA grants emergency use approval.
Friday, the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologics Advisory Committee will hold a public meeting. This independent group of experts determines whether the vaccine works and whether it is safe. They will then make a recommendation to the FDA. The FDA usually follows their advice. The FDA could approve the vaccine on Friday or Saturday.
On Sunday afternoon, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, known as ACIP, meets and sets guidelines on who should receive the vaccine. Your vote is scheduled for 3pm.
From there, the vaccine could be distributed from J&J facilities to vaccination centers across the country.
But don’t expect those vaccine waiting lists to shift anytime soon.
The offer is limited. The company says it has just 4 million doses of its vaccine ready to ship “immediately.” 20 million should be ready by the end of March.
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Where do people get this vaccine?
That depends on where you live.
The Biden government said on Tuesday that about 2 million doses will go to the United States after the vaccine is approved.
Since the states don’t have many details yet, there are many plans in the air. Until they know details such as how much and when they will take their photos, planning is difficult. They also want to know who the vaccine works best for.
Arkansas said it won’t have any details to share until it learns more about the vaccine’s characteristics.
Colorado said, regardless of the details, it hopes the J&J vaccine will be available at mass vaccination sites.
New York City is planning a new initiative to expand access for seniors.
Since the J&J vaccine requires only one injection and does not require special refrigeration, medical staff can bring the vaccine to home-bound adults who cannot reach the vaccination center.
The White House said on Monday that vaccines not shipped to states in this initial deployment will go to pharmacies and community health centers.
Can I choose the type of vaccine I will receive?
It depends.
“My advice to all my patients and all my friends will be to get the first vaccination they can. Most importantly, protect yourself, ”said Dr. Jeff Carson, Chancellor of Biomedical and Health Sciences at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
According to Brig, Colorado plans to offer an option at its largest mass vaccination centers. General Scott Sherman, Director of the State Unified Coordination Center’s Vaccine Task Force. But that may not be the case for all places where people are vaccinated.
Right now, with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, some sites are offering the vaccine they had the most that day. The offer changes from week to week.
Also, it is unclear at this point whether the J&J dosage will be better for one group or the other. The ACIP committee will assist in making that decision on Sunday, and from there states will make decisions based on those guidelines.
How long do I have to wait to get protection from this vaccine compared to others?
With any vaccine, it takes a few weeks for your body to build up immunity. Protection does not happen immediately.
With the J&J vaccine, protection against moderate / severe disease appears to start about two weeks after vaccination. Four weeks after the injection, data from clinical studies showed that there were no hospitalizations or deaths.
Remember, this is a single dose injection, so you don’t have to wait for a second dose to develop full protection. US tests of the J&J Injection have shown that it provides 72% protection against moderate to severe disease after one month.
Recent studies show that you get a good level of protection with the first dose of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, but that you don’t get full protection until about two weeks after your second dose.
With Moderna’s vaccine, the CDC says you should get your second injection four weeks after your first. It’s three weeks with the Pfizer injection. It takes about two weeks to develop the optimal level of protection after the second injection. These vaccines prevent covid-19 disease in 95% of cases.
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How secure is it?
According to the FDA analysis, the J&J vaccine has a “favorable safety profile.”
The side effects were usually mild. The most common were injection site pain, headache, fatigue, and muscle pain. Some people had hives. Most of these side effects disappear within a day or two.
There appeared to be more incidents related to blood clotting and ringing in the ears among people who received the vaccine in the trial compared to those who did not, but the FDA notes that “ the data is insufficient at this time to establish a causal relationship between these. events and the vaccine ”.
There were no reports of serious allergic reactions with it.
There have been a handful of serious allergic reactions with Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines against COVID-19, but this was an extremely rare result.
For example, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were only 29 cases in 1.9 million doses administered in the first week of the Pfizer vaccine rollout.