SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With COVID-19 cases on the rise across the state and top medical professors saying even vaccinated people can catch the delta variant, many people are looking for extra protection to stay safe.
Some have asked specifically if getting the Pfizer booster shot is an option if you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as your first dose. So we verified:
QUESTION:
"I was vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson, can I crossover and take a Pfizer booster shot if necessary?"
ANSWER:
We can verify that right now it's not recommended to crossover and take a Pfizer booster shot if you already have the J&J vaccine. Research on its safety is ongoing.
SOURCES:
Sources for today’s verify are Dr. Bradly Pollock Associate, Dean for Public Health Sciences at UC Davis, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
PROCESS:
The CDC released a joint statement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding booster shots saying:
"Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time. FDA, CDC, and NIH are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary."
The NIH said they have begun clinical trials evaluating mixed COVID-19 vaccine schedules in a statement saying:
"Phase 1/2 clinical trial in which adult volunteers who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will receive booster doses of different COVID-19 vaccines to determine the safety and immunogenicity of mixed boosted regimens."
But the findings of the trial won't be available until late summer 2021.
Dr. Pollock said it doesn’t look like the vaccine efficacy is waning as much as people have talked about when the vaccine first became available but that was before the delta variant.
"The variants do pose a little bit more of a concern and the booster that is being developed right now would be ones that would take advantage of the evolution of the virus," Pollock said.
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