Santa Clara County received 7,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on March 8 and is scheduled to receive a more on March 23. 

The Santa Clara County Public Information Officers (PIO) team said vaccination appointments were stalled during the first two weeks of March because  a low number of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were allocated to the county.

“It is great news to have another highly effective COVID-19 vaccine in our arsenal,”  representatives from the PIO team stated in an email. 

Vaccines are delivered to the county weekly and the number of doses vary depending on what the state supplies. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is administered in a singular dose for ages 18 and older, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Johnson & Johnson vaccine fact sheet. 

San Jose State graduate student Jacob Clark said there’s “no question” he’d take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine if it was available for him today. 

“The more vaccines that are out in the supply chain, the more people receive the vaccines, the faster we can return to some resemblance of normalcy,” Clark said in a phone call. 

As of Tuesday, 393,860 county residents have received at least one vaccine and 207,969 residents have completed their vaccination dosages, according to the SCC vaccination dashboard. 

 About 13% of residents 16 years and older are completely vaccinated, but the county must vaccinate 85% of residents to achieve herd immunity. 

The PIO team said the county health department will soon learn more about the upcoming doses it’s expected to receive, but the team is hopeful the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be a great step forward. 

“It is an important tool for helping to end the pandemic, given its effectiveness and that it is just one dose and easier to transport and store,” the PIO team said. 

SJSU students react to receiving the vaccine

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was proven in an ongoing clinical trial to be 100% effective in preventing COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, and 86% effective against severe-to-critical COVID-19 symptoms, resulting in 72% overall efficacy. 

The PIO team said the vaccine was tested under different circumstances than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. This included testing for different circulating variants and a higher probability of transmission occurrence in the county. 

According to the FDA fact sheet, 21,895 people 18 years and older have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the clinical trial and the duration of protection against COVID-19 is currently unknown.

The Moderna vaccine is for individuals 18 and older and is 94% effective while Pfizer’s vaccine is for people 16 and older and is 95% effective, the PIO team said. 

Clark said although Johnson & Johnson’s efficacy is lower than the other two vaccines, it’s still decently effective.

“When you consider that [Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine] is one shot and you don’t need the same logistical burden as the other two vaccines where it doesn’t need the same cooling when being stored . . . it’s definitely an improvement [against COVID-19],” Clark said. 

The FDA made the Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines available under emergency use and therefore they haven’t undergone the same type of review as a cleared product, according to the FDA fact sheet.

FDA emergency use authorizations are issued when there are no adequate, approved and available alternatives. 

Despite a lack of long-term data on the vaccines, applied mathematics senior Megha Sharma said she’ll continue to trust experts. 

“People who developed [these vaccines] and approved them have done extensive research on the virus,” Sharma said. 

Like Sharma, Clark said people have to trust those who spent their lives studying this material. 

“Maybe [there hasn’t been] enough time to get through the bureaucracy of the FDA but I very much would rather take a vaccine that I know 50,000 people took and had very little harmful side effects, than get COVID-19,” Clark said. 

Similar to Moderna and Pfizer, side effects from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine include pain, redness of skin or swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headaches, muscle aches, nausea and fever, according to the FDA fact sheet. 

The PIO team said while vaccines arrive weekly and COVID-19 cases decline, the county’s public health department is concerned about a transmission spike as activities resume under the red tier and new variants circulate. 

“We need everyone to be diligent in wearing masks, maintaining proper social distancing, getting tested regularly and getting vaccinated when your time comes,” the team said.