UPDATEOn October 20, theFDA authorizeda single booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at least 2 months after initial vaccination in adults 18 and up. The FDA also said COVID booster shots do not have to match a recipient’s initial vaccine series. In other words, vaccines can be “mixed and matched.”

UPDATE

On October 20, theFDA authorizeda single booster of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at least 2 months after initial vaccination in adults 18 and up. The FDA also said COVID booster shots do not have to match a recipient’s initial vaccine series. In other words, vaccines can be “mixed and matched.”

Key TakeawaysAn FDA advisory panel today voted to recommend authorizing Johnson & Johnson boosters to people two months after their first shot.Panelists said that the Jassen vaccine should have been a two-dose regimen.Compared to Moderna and Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is less effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Key Takeaways

An FDA advisory panel today voted to recommend authorizing Johnson & Johnson boosters to people two months after their first shot.Panelists said that the Jassen vaccine should have been a two-dose regimen.Compared to Moderna and Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is less effective at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations.

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, October 15, voted unanimously in favor of authorizing Johnson & Johnson boosters to people two months after their initial vaccination.

If authorized, after theapplication for emergency use authorizationat the beginning of October, the Johnson & Johnson booster would be available to people aged 18 and above who received the single-dose vaccine.

“There is a public health imperative here, because what we’re seeing is that this is a group with overall lower efficacy than we have seen with the mRNA vaccine,” saidArnold S. Monto, MD, an epidemiology and public health professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

The same FDA panel voted yesterday torecommend Moderna boostersfor people aged 65 and older, adults with underlying medical conditions, and those who work in high-risk settings—the same guidelines for Pfizer’s boosters.

At Friday’s meeting, Johnson & Johnson representatives presenteddatathat showed a second dose of the Jassen vaccine would strongly boost immune response. A booster dose administered two months after the initial shot would increase protection against COVID-19 from 70% to 94%, according to the company’s data.

Leana Wen, MD,a public health professor at George Washington University who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, says that an extra shot should be considered not just as a booster, but as part of an initial series.

“This is not even a question of waning immunity and needing a booster. It’s a question of whether people with the J&J vaccine should get an additional dose to increase the protection,” Wen tells Verywell.

The panelists stressed an “urgency” for the booster due to the single-dose vaccine’s limited protection compared to that of the mRNA vaccines.

“If the vaccine isn’t adequate, then it should be boosted in everybody,” said FDA panelist Daniel Rubin, PhD.

FDA officialPeter Marks, MD, PhDadded that a Johnson & Johnson booster could better serve minorities, some of whom received the single shot through outreach campaigns.

“I do not think that our federal health officials should be in the business of telling people what they should care about when it comes to their health,” Wen says. “There are a lot of people who don’t want to get COVID at all, don’t want to have the potential of long haul symptoms, don’t want to transmit it to their loved ones.”

The FDA is expected to present a decision following the panel’s recommendation in the following days.

“It’s very clear cut that the protection for the J&J vaccine just is not to the same level as Pfizer and Moderna,” Wen says.

What This Means For YouA Johnson & Johnson booster may be authorized soon for people 18 and older who initially received that vaccine. If the FDA authorizes the booster, people could be eligible for it as soon as two months after their first shot.

What This Means For You

A Johnson & Johnson booster may be authorized soon for people 18 and older who initially received that vaccine. If the FDA authorizes the booster, people could be eligible for it as soon as two months after their first shot.

1 SourceVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Self WH, Tenforde MW, Rhoads JP, et al.Comparative Effectiveness of Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Vaccines in Preventing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Among Adults Without Immunocompromising Conditions — United States, March–August 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1337–1343. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7038e1

1 Source

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Self WH, Tenforde MW, Rhoads JP, et al.Comparative Effectiveness of Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Vaccines in Preventing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Among Adults Without Immunocompromising Conditions — United States, March–August 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1337–1343. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7038e1

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Self WH, Tenforde MW, Rhoads JP, et al.Comparative Effectiveness of Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Vaccines in Preventing COVID-19 Hospitalizations Among Adults Without Immunocompromising Conditions — United States, March–August 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1337–1343. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7038e1

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