J&J vaccine could be a 'game changer.' Here's why a third option matters.

NBC News

By Denise Chow
An employee with McKesson Corp. packs a box of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine doses into a cooler for shipping from its facility in Shepherdsville, Ky., on Monday.Timothy D. Easley / AP Pool

Having two vaccines is good. But three is better — and it could make a major difference in getting the pandemic under control.

"It could be a total game changer," said Dr. Muriel Jean-Jacques, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University.

Millions of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson will soon be available in the U.S., a much-anticipated development that could help turn the tide of the pandemic by vastly speeding the rate at which people are vaccinated.

Experts say the newly authorized vaccine could play a key role in staving off another surge of infections, particularly as the recent sharp declines in reported cases of Covid-19 appear to be leveling off and rising once again.

"We've never had to vaccinate our whole population at the same time before — not to mention the rest of the world — so having more vaccines will make that easier," Jean-Jacques said.

Publish : 2021-03-02 14:22:00

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