Long time no talk! I shouldn’t beat myself up over not writing often enough because everyone, myself included, has been going through a literal pandemic that seems never-ending for 13 months now, but I do.

However, I got a pretty good topic to cover today: Vaccinations in general, and why I got the Jansen Johnson & Johnson (JJJ) vaccine in particular. There seems to be a lot of fear mongering that I’ve seen online as well as in the media about vaccines and particularly the JJJ vaccine. So I thought I’d come on here, not as a vaccine expert or a science professional (because I’m obviously not), but as someone who has got this vaccine and also has done quite a bit of research on vaccine development and rollout way before I was able to take the shot. My hope is it’d help someone make informed decision and do their own research (but not like, in a conspiracy theorist kinda way, if you know what I mean).

The US Vaccination effort

As of April 6 2021, President Biden’s White House announced that the US has administered 150 million doses of vaccine in a few short weeks, with the rate of 3 millions a day and 20 millions a week, and by April 19 all adults will be able to register for vaccination. While other countries have different approval process for different kinds of vaccine, the American FDA has so far approved 3 vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, and Jansen Johnson & Johnson. They are also in the process of approving a 4th vaccine, AstraZeneca. However, at this rate, most American adults will be vaccinated with the first 3 vaccines before needing AstraZeneca, likely around July. POTUS is quite confident that we will be able to have a normal-ish July 4th.

This is a miracle in and of itself. Just a short 3 months ago, no one in the US would have thought vaccinations would go so well and the rate of vaccine rollout would be this efficient. But here we are. And the speed at which this happened will never fail to amaze me. #ThankyouScience

The 3 different Vaccines

So without going through so much technical details (cause I can’t), I’d like to go over the differences and similarities between the 3 vaccines available to US adults. Most of my information is from the CDC website, official announcements from the government, as well as sharings from Infectious Disease experts I found online, such as @kinggutterbaby and @science.sam.

As you can see, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are what they called a mRNA vaccine, a new-ish science development. How it works, in simple term, is that it sends a kind of message to your body, almost like an instruction, to produce the Covid virus (you know, those spikey ball-like things?) once the message is inside your body, triggering your body to produce the antibodies needed to fight the virus. This is SUPER COOL, and like #wowscience.

Different from the mRNA vaccine, the JJJ vaccine is a more traditional vaccine that’s been used for decades with other diseases now. What it does, is something that resembles the virus enters your body without really being the actual virus, like a Trojan horse, and also triggers the immune response that will result the covid-fighting antibodies.

(Disclaimer: these are super oversimplified explanations and should not be used as a scientific guide to how the vaccines work)

Each vaccine has pros and cons. Both mRNA vaccines are 2 dose ones (21 days and 28 days apart for Pfizer and Moderna accordingly) whereas JJJ is only 1 dose. The Pfizer vaccine has to be stored in DEEP FREEZERS (very expensive equipments and hard to come by in rural areas) but apparently has the “highest” efficacy of the group at around 95% . (A lot of people confused this for it being the most effective vaccine, which is not true, and I’ll go into that later). The Moderna vaccine also has to be stored in super cold temperature, and has a pretty high efficacy rate at 94%. The JJJ vaccine can simply be stored in a regular fridge, and has a reported efficacy rate of 66%. This last sticking point is what a lot of the fear mongering has been based on.

Why I chose Johnson & Johnson

As some of you know, my husband and I just got the JJJ vaccine 3 days ago. I always tell people to not shop around for vaccines, and that I would get whatever vaccine that is available near me at the time I can get it (and that’s still true for you: during a global pandemic, the best vaccines are the ones available to you now!) However, due to the effective vaccine rollout by the Eagle County government, I was able to see what vaccine I could get a choose between Moderna and JJJ, and I chose JJJ.

Here are a few reasons why:

• I’m not scared by the 66% efficacy number: not many people understand that efficacy and effectiveness are not the same thing, although being mistakenly used interchangeably often. Efficacy refers to what happens in a super controlled setting (in this case, clinical trials), whereas effectiveness refers to actual real world performance. So in this case, 66, 94 or 95% efficacious doesn’t equal 66, 94, or 95% effective. Why that is, please go to my next points.

• Different vaccine clinical trials have different end goals: comparing the efficacy rates of different vaccines is like comparing apples to oranges, in other words, quite impossible. Although all 3 vaccines are developed at quite similar timelines and rate, they still have different end goals. For example, the mRNA vaccines were developed way before any of the new variants like those in the UK and South Africa emerged, while the JJJ vaccine actually did include data about the new variants. The end goal of all their 3 clinical trials are defined slightly differently as well. For example, the JJJ vaccine defines anyone who got the vaccine that ended up with 2 flu-like symptoms or 3 more severe symptoms as “moderate cases”, whereas others would define them as “mild” (think: cough, loss of smell, etc…). This likely means JJJ is a little stricter in defining the efficacy rate of their vaccine. Also, I really like that the participants of the JJJ clinical trials are the most diverse out of the 3.

• All 3 vaccines reduce hospitalization and death by 100%: in all of the clinical trials, the results are extremely encouraging in that while there are people who do end up getting Covid and a small percentage of them get more severe symptoms, none results in hospitalization or death. This means doesn’t matter which vaccine you got, you are less likely to contract Covid and even if you do, the symptoms are mitigated. This is the miracle we hope vaccines can do.

• Last but not least, JJJ is not as high-maintenance as the other vaccines: like mentioned above, the JJJ vaccine is only a 1-dose vaccine while the other two are 2 doses. This is HUGE for us since we want to save time, effort and resources for both ourselves and the government. There are millions of people that need vaccine in our state and if we can make the process faster by registering only a 1-dose vaccine that requites only regular refrigerators instead of deep-freezers, we gladly take it. As young, generally healthy people, we can afford that higher chance of contracting mild Covid while reserving the other doses for our elderlies and people who need it more.

My experiences getting the Johnson and Johnson in Eagle County

I’m extremely impressed with how smooth Colorado government in general and Eagle County in particular has made vaccine rollout. Here is the timeline of my experience:

• April 5, the day all adults in Colorado are eligible to register, we got sent a text each inviting us to register (we had both registered a few days earlier)

• David registered for JJJ on Wednesday, I got Moderna initially

• I changed my mind and went for JJJ same day as David.

• I was able to cancel my Moderna appointment smoothly, but my shot ended up being 2 hours later than David’s on Wednesday

• On day of vaccine, we arrived early, and luckily got both of us in at the same time without having to wait around

• We didn’t have to move an inch since it’s a drive in (with many, many cars)

• Volunteers were super helpful and moved us through the lines quickly, no hiccups

• We filled out a simple form and got our shots! They were nothing different than other shots except a little soreness in arms

• Had to wait around for 15 mins. While we were waiting, a volunteer said: are you in park? there are more cars bumping each other than people experiencing symptoms!

While everyone reacts differently to different vaccines (seems like men and women react differently for the most part), here are our reactions: During the shots, it feels a little weird and sore at sight. Then after that, we felt nothing more and every was normal. Symptoms started kicking in (at least for me) during that night sleep, including hot flash, chills, body pain. The next morning, David got a headache and soreness in his arm, while I have the whole package of flu like symptoms (body ache, headache, general heaviness). But I took 2 Advil and the day off work and was fine. David even played basketball at the end of that night. The day after that, we are totally back to normal.

I heard that some people are completely bedridden after the 1 dose JJJ or the 2nd dose of the mRNA vaccines while others experience no symptoms at all.

Some final thoughts

I’d like to leave you with a few thoughts as the US will very soon open up vaccines to every single adult:

• Please, the best vaccines are the ones available to you RIGHT NOW. Don’t shop around, don’t hoard, don’t be selfish. Get yours so others can get theirs. The only way we can get through is for enough people to achieve herd immunity, so please, get your shot when it’s available to you.

• JJJ is very likely just as effective in the real world as the other vaccines, don’t let the efficacy numbers fool you

• If you can, make sure you have a rest day after your last dose of vaccine. You will most likely need it. You will thank me later.

• Don’t let the your guard down just yet. We are so close to the end now that it would be such a waste to prematurely stop masking and social-distancing just to see the cases spike again.

Thank you for reading until here. We got this. I think we can finally, just maybe, see the light at the end of the tunnel now.