BOSTON — Of the two million Massachusetts residents fully immunized against COVID-19, only about 10 percent got to that point via the Johnson & Johnson single-dose adenovirus vector vaccine. But that proportion was set to climb this week, with some communities counting on single-dose inoculation as the simplest way to cover certain vulnerable populations.
Yarmouth, for example, hoped to immunize 170 homebound residents this week using the Johnson & Johnson product -- and the fact it takes one shot to achieve full immunity was what drove the choice.
“Some of these people haven’t left their house since March of last year,” said Yarmouth Fire Lt. Chris McMahon. “They’re nervous, they’re scared, they’re vulnerable. Having the option of us going in there and doing this and then being able to leave their house or at least give them a little bit of peace of mind, is huge.”
Tuesday morning, McMahon drove to the Harwich Port Community Health Center to pick up the Johnson & Johnson doses to finally begin vaccinating the homebound -- a process he said would take about three days.
“Everything was in place,” McMahon said. “Pulled in and the compliance director, my contact down there, came out and said, so sorry but we just deciphered this e-mail that says we have to pause on the J&J. So that was that for the moment.”
The pause, requested by the FDA and CDC to investigate rare and dangerous blood clots possibly linked to the vaccine, forced Yarmouth officials to scramble to get in touch with everyone on the list for vaccination.
“That caused even more confusion and anxiety,” McMahon said, “But we got it done.”
Yarmouth has been hobbled with a lack of vaccine because it lacks a town nurse who can directly order doses, McMahon said. So it is relying on the county for its supply. If more of the two-dose Moderna vaccine comes in next week, Yarmouth will use that on the homebound -- unless, of course, the Johnson & Johnson doses -- still in Harwich -- are cleared for use.
A hundred miles away, in Methuen, the city was all set to open a Johnson & Johnson vaccination clinic Tuesday when word came down about the pause.
“Originally, this clinic was published for people living and working in Methuen, and so with that we only had about 320 people register,” said Inspectional Services Director Felix Zemel. “So the night before we actually made it public to the overall Massachusetts population through the Vax Finder website.”
Another 200 registered for shots, Zemel said.
“When we decided to close the clinic, we sent out an e-mail to all the people that had registered for the clinic to inform them that the clinic was closed,” Zemel said. “And that they would be able to get the Moderna doses when we have a first-dose clinic available for Moderna.”
In addition, Methuen police sent out a reverse 911 call to city residents and were on hand, along with a staff member, the next morning in case anyone showed up.
“We had probably 20 people show up,” Zemel said.
Fortunately, Holy Family Hospital had some first-dose Moderna appointments available -- and those who didn’t get the message about the clinic closure had the option to go there, Zemel said.
While interest in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine seemed high initially -- and while a single-dose formulation has advantages for certain groups, Zemel said clinic bookings were actually higher for the two-dose vaccines. Though that may be a result of greater vaccine acceptance, he said, by the older age groups who were first in line, many weeks ago, for immunization.
In any case, Zemel is expecting a busy week starting Monday, when the bottom falls out on the age boundary and vaccination is opened to anyone in Massachusetts, 16 and up.
Download the free Boston 25 News app for up-to-the-minute push alerts
>> Complete Covid-19 vaccine coverage
RESOURCES:
- Complete local and national coronavirus coverage here
- Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Watch Boston 25 NOW
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
