Johnson and Johnson vaccine coming
MDHHS official: Department will receive one-dose version Wednesday
The Oakland County Health Division is expecting to receive its first 6,700 doses of the Johnson and
Johnson COVID-19 vaccine within the next several days.
The single-dose vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday with over 2.8 million doses being shipped out to states this week. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the J&J vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage temperatures and can be stored in a refrigerator for three months at 36-46°F (2 to 8°C). During a phase 3 clinical trial, the vaccine was 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe disease 28 days after vaccination.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, Michigan will receive 82,700 initial J&J doses, adding to the state’s weekly allocation of 423,380 Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses of which 211,690 are first doses. The J&J allocation will bring the state’s weekly vaccine allocation to over 500,000 doses.
Lynn Sutfin, MDHHS spokesperson, said the J&J doses will arrive in Michigan
on Wednesday, having been shipped directly from J&J to the local health departments and hospitals.
“These Johnson & Johnson doses arriving this week are another ray of hope,” said David Coulter, county executive. “Our challenge is supply that does not meet our demand,
and a third effective vaccine helps. We look forward to getting more doses into arms of Oakland County residents so we can emerge from the heavy cloud of the pandemic.”
The county will seek guidance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on who the J&J vaccines should be administered to. According to a CDC spokesperson, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will publish the updated recommendations and guidance around 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
“The ACIP recommended the J&J vaccine for anyone 18 and older for the same prioritized groups that we decided on at the end of last year,” said the spokesperson.
Not including the new J&J allocation, the county received 20,780 doses of vaccine this week, which includes 10,200 first doses. Since December, the county has received over 100,000 doses with over 70,000 doses administered.
Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the J&J vaccine does not require ultra-cold storage temperatures and can be stored in a refrigerator for three months at 36-46°F (2 to 8°C). During a phase 3 clinical trial, the vaccine was 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe disease 28 days after vaccination.
This week, the Oakland County Health Division will continue administering first and second dose vaccines at their drivethru sites across the county and at seven long-term care clinics. The county schedules weekly vaccine appointments by contacting people that registered on the county’s Save Your Spot List. Eligibility and timestamp of registration are used to determine who gets an appointment any given week.
“We now have three vaccines that are effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death,” said Dr. Russel Faust, the county’s medical director. “It is important that people follow medical advice – get whatever vaccine you are offered.”
To date, the State of Michigan has received over 3 million doses having administered over 2.3 million. Nationwide, over 76 million doses have been administered.
Johnson and Johnson expects to deliver enough single-shot vaccines by the end of March to enable the full vaccination of more than 20 million people in the U.S. It plans to deliver 100 million single-shot vaccines to the U.S. during the first half of 2021.
The health division has the capacity, through its provider network, to administer 20,000 vaccine doses per day, the limited supply has hindered those efforts. Its vaccine provider network includes Honor Community Health, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, and Meijer who are required to administer at least 90 percent of the vaccine doses that the county distributes to them within 7 days.
That provider network will be expanded with an expectation the county’s vaccine supply will substantially increase at some point.
County Executive David Coulter and others are continuing to urge residents to be patient as the county “anxiously” awaits a “substantial” increase in its vaccine supply to be able to meet the significant demand, adding there has been a gradual increase week-to-week.
The county is still working through vaccination Phase 1A and 1B, which includes frontline health care workers, emergency medical care workers, residents and workers in long-term care facilities, people age 65 and over, frontline first responders, school and child care staff, corrections staff, and other critical infrastructure workers.
On Monday, Michigan public health officials announced 1,569 new COVID-19 cases and 12 new deaths from the virus. To date, the State has confirmed over 589,000 cases and 15,500 deaths.
With case, testing positivity, and hospitalization rates trending down for weeks, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has hinted at announcing additional measures to reopen the state that could include indoor gathering and nursing home visitor restrictions.
As of Feb. 23, Michigan had the 48th highest case rate (94.7 cases per 100,000 residents), according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker. Michigan had the 37th highest hospitalization rate as a percent of total beds with 3.3% of the state’s available inpatient beds filled with COVID patients, according to the Becker’s Hospital Review. The testing positivity rate was 3.5%, which has been declining for 6 weeks.
For more information, visit www.oakgov.com/ health or call Nurse on Call at (800)-848-5533, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon.