Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine: Here's What NYC Needs To Know

NEW YORK CITY — Shipments of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot coronavirus vaccine finally rolled into New York City, where officials have high hopes.

But it could take weeks for the vaccine to achieve its full impact. Not only that, city health officials worry that unfounded skepticism over its effectiveness could slow its uptake among New Yorkers.

One prominent city leader is willing to put his arm on the line to give the vaccine a booster shot in the public's eyes.

"I'm very confident in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine," Mayor Bill de Blasio said recently. "I will be getting it myself in a very public way to help show people that I have full confidence in it."

Here's what you need to know about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

What sets the J&J vaccine apart?

The J&J vaccine only requires one dose for protection against the coronavirus, as compared to the two-shot vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna.

It also can be stored longer and at lower temperatures than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. De Blasio said Friday on WNYC’s “Brian Lehrer Show” that the J&J vaccine ease’s of storage makes it more portable and an ideal vaccine to give to home bound seniors.

“Because Johnson & Johnson does not require the same rigorous amount of refrigeration… we can take it out into a community and use it effectively,” he said.

The city is embarking on a massive, door-to-door effort to bring the vaccine to seniors.

When and how will New York City seniors get the vaccine?

FDNY medical personnel are already going door-to-door in Co-op City in the Bronx and Brighton Beach, two areas with enough seniors that they’re considered “naturally-occurring retirement communities,” de Blasio said.

Co-op City has about 40,000 seniors, so the effort likely will take some time, he said.

The city is working on a streamlined sign up process for seniors going forward, de Blasio said. Until then, there’s a form in which seniors can state their interest in the shots.

But, again, the effort likely will start slow because of supply.

What about supply?

Just because the J&J vaccine got approved doesn’t mean there will be adequate doses for the city’s immediate needs.

City health officials have said until the vaccine’s production amps up — and it will, thanks to a deal brokered by President Joe Biden’s administration to have Merck produce its rival J&J’s vaccine — they only expect 71,000 doses in the first two weeks of availability.

The city will receive roughly 24,000 doses during the first week, a drop in the bucket to the roughly 190,000 weekly combined doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, said Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner.

Where else is it available?

The state set aside part of its first batch of 164,800 doses for Yankee Stadium and Javits Center, which started offering the J&J vaccine overnight.

Both are open for appointments but those will last only as long as supply.

Only eligible Bronx residents can receive vaccines at Yankee Stadium, which will offer them from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. so long as the supply lasts. Appointments for the J&J can be booked by visiting Somosvaccinations.com or calling 1-833-SomosNY.

The Javits Center site is open to all eligible New Yorkers. They can make appointments by using the state's 'Am I Eligible' website or by calling the state's COVID-19 Vaccination Hotline at 1-833-NYS-4-VAX. Those appointments — which, again, are dependent on supply — will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

I heard the vaccine isn’t as effective as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Is that true?

Studies have shown and the FDA has certified the J&J vaccine as safe, effective and providing especially strong protection against severe COVID-19 or death.

City health officials like Chokshi and Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior health adviser, have repeatedly stressed the vaccine that New Yorkers need not “shop” for one vaccine or the other.

“And the reason to really emphasize that is that as we keep saying, when you look at the outcomes that we care about the most, severe illness and death, all three vaccines that are authorized by the FDA have the exact same impact on those,” Varma said.

The J&J vaccine was found to have 72 percent efficacy against the coronavirus in a U.S.-based trial and 64 percent in South Africa, the New York Times reported.

That’s lower than 90-plus percent reported for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but as the New York Times detailed all three vaccines were studied at different time intervals at different points in the pandemic, making direct comparisons difficult at best.

And the studies show the J&J vaccine is 85 percent effective against severe illness or death.

De Blasio summarized Chokshi’s advice to New Yorkers: “The best vaccine is the one you can get now.”