A Brooklyn man found out on Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus – more than two weeks after he got the shot.
Matthew Sambolin, 39, told The Post that although he chose the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it was “convenient,” he now wishes he’d gotten the Pfizer or Moderna shot instead.
“The risk was there, I was willing to take it. Now I wish I made a different decision, ”he said in a phone call from the guest bedroom of his home in Bath Beach, where he is currently quarantining.
Sambolin said he had mild symptoms, including a mild cough and fatigue.
While a quick test he took on Saturday was negative, a PCR test, which is more accurate, on Sunday yielded a positive result for COVID-19, according to the documentation he provided.
“It was a shock,” said Sambolin when he heard about his positive test on Monday.
Sambolin, operations manager of two local radio stations, said he had “no ambivalence” about the COVID vaccine and had been looking forward to getting his.
“I wanted to help boost herd immunity,” he said.
Sambolin also said he felt it was important to get vaccinated to protect his young daughter Nora, who is nearly two, and for the benefit of the workers he manages.
He received the injection on March 24 at the NYPD Community Center in East New York, according to his vaccination chart.
Sambolin wanted to get the J&J shot because he wanted to get vaccinated when he drove to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina that weekend.
On Wednesday – it’s been two weeks since he got his shot, and that’s when experts say he would be considered fully vaccinated – Sambolin believes he was exposed to the virus through a colleague who later tested positive for COVID.
Sambolin says he took all recommended precautions during the pandemic, including wearing a mask and socializing, and that he hasn’t taken public transport for over a year, although he still goes to the office.
After Sambolin and his wife discovered on Saturday that his colleague had come up with the bug, they were tested at their local CityMD. Both her rapid test and PCR were negative.
Sambolin said he decided to tell his story after seeing other reports from people getting the J&J shot and then coming up with COVID, including The Post’s stories of a Brooklyn woman who turned positive three weeks after her vaccine. and a New Jersey man who was hospitalized. with the virus five weeks after his injection.
Sporadic cases of post-vaccination horror stories have surfaced in local news around the country. Health experts say that while vaccinated people can still catch the bug, the chances of it happening are much lower than in people who haven’t been vaccinated.
“The vaccine does not necessarily prevent you from getting COVID. It prevents you from being hospitalized or dying from it, ”said Dr. Kris Bungay, a general practitioner in Manhattan, previously on The Post. “That’s why we all still have to be careful.”
“In the clinical trials, it was not common for patients to be symptomatic after being vaccinated,” added Bungay.
According to the CDC, the two-dose vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer are 94% and 95%, respectively, effective in preventing symptomatic coronavirus infections after two doses. The single dose J&J vaccine provides only 66% protection.
Sambolin said he hoped more people would consider that data before taking their chance.
“I still think getting vaccinated is still absolutely the way to get herd immunity,” he said, but “I hope they consider really weighing up the different effectiveness.”
