FDA authorizes COVID-19 boosters. Will there be many takers in the Fresno region?
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has authorized both the Moderna and Janssen/Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines to be given as booster doses for people who have already been vaccinated against COVID-19.
But it’s uncertain whether the federal green light for the booster shots will generate a significant increase in demand for vaccines in Fresno County or neighboring central San Joaquin Valley counties once the state Department of Public Health gives its approval.
The FDA had already authorized Pfizer’s vaccine – the only COVID-19 vaccine to date to receive full FDA approval for use in people 18 years and older – for booster doses last month for people over the age of 65 or with jobs or health conditions that put them at greater risk for contracting a coronavirus infection. The boosters are available to eligible residents six months after they received their second dose of the two-shot Pfizer regimen.
Wednesday’s announcement by the FDA expanded the emergency-use authorizations for the Moderna and Janssen vaccines to allow for booster doses. The two drugs, however, have not yet received full approval by regulators – considered one factor in vaccine hesitancy that has depressed the proportion of the population receiving shots and, doctors say, slowing the progress toward a larger degree of “herd immunity” against the continuing spread of COVID-19.
Vaccines in the central Valley
In the Valley, by far the largest share of shots administered to residents has been the Pfizer vaccine, which was the first to be made available in mid-December 2020, followed a few weeks later by Moderna’s product. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are two-dose regimens, requiring separate injections several weeks apart to provide the greatest level of protection.
The third available vaccine, from Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, requires only one shot, but didn’t become widely available until early March.
Late last week, an FDA panel recommended authorizing booster doses with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Wednesday’s decision clears the way for a mix-and-match use of any of the available vaccines as boosters for people who received a different manufacturer’s product earlier.
Of almost 2.1 million doses of vaccine that have been shot into residents’ arms in Fresno, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced and Tulare counties, nearly 1.2 million – or 57.6% – have been the Pfizer product. Fewer than 72,000 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been given, amounting to about 3.5% of all doses.
“We have some Johnson & Johnson in the system in Fresno County, (but) not a lot,” said Joe Prado, interim assistant director of the Fresno County Department of Public Health. “The reason being is there’s not a lot of demand for it.”
COVID booster demand in Valley
A shortage of vaccines is not among Prado’s concerns when it comes to making booster doses available to residents.
“We can easily order any of the three vaccines, Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson; it’s just a matter of whether we see the demand,” Prado said last week. “We ordered some additional Pfizer for the booster doses, and as we brought those into our freezers, we didn’t see the demand for booster doses.”
Prado said county officials saw vaccine demand tick up to about 2,500 doses per day in the second week after Pfizer boosters were authorized. Now, he said, “we are back down to below 2,000 doses a day, so we are seeing a downward trend on doses overall.”
“The system has enough vaccine,” he added. “We just don’t have enough demand at this time.”
The greater concern for health officials is getting people to be vaccinated in the first place. Since mid-December, about 512,000 of the county’s 1,032,000 million residents have been fully vaccinated – just under 50% of the total population.
In the meantime, almost 44% of Fresno County’s residents are wholly unvaccinated, yet to receive even one shot of a vaccine.
