Adding J&J doses to weekly vaccine allotments gives counties more options

The state Department of Health and Human Services said the vaccine is initially going to providers in 33 counties, including seven in central North Carolina.

Wake County plans to divvy up its 5,500 doses among dozens of pharmacies and physicians' offices in the coming days in an effort to push vaccine out to all corners of the county. The county has more than 130 approved vaccination providers, but only a couple dozen have been getting any vaccine in recent weeks because of limited supply.

"We thought to ourselves, can we figure out a way to help get them in a game?" said Ryan Jury, who oversees the county's vaccination efforts. "The easiest way to do that was to say, 'Hey, here’s 50 doses or 100 doses. Why don’t you get your feet wet and start vaccinating and figure out how you can be part of this vaccine movement?'"

In Durham County, the county health department plans to split its 1,400 doses between private school employees at a large vaccination event and marginalized communities through a partnership with North Carolina Central University and St. Joseph AME Church.

Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease expert at the Duke University Health System, said one benefit of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it requires only one shot. The existing vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are both two-shot regimens.

Duke health received 5,000 doses of the new vaccine.

"I think it gives us actually a lot of flexibility," Wolfe said. "We [will] find our target populations in whom it’s logistically difficult to get back to them or to get them to us for the second shot."

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine also doesn't require super cold storage, unlike the other two vaccines.

"We can move it more easily within our health care system or peripheral clinics," Wolfe said.

Locations, phone numbers to get your COVID shot in central NC

Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at UNC Health, acknowledged that some people have expressed reservations about the one-shot vaccine because clinical trials showed it was less effective than the two-shot vaccines at preventing people from contracting COVID-19.

“We have to be thoughtful about how to do this," Wohl said of giving people the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “We don’t want to force anyone to take a vaccine they don’t want. That’s not going to happen.”

UNC Health plans to use 3,600 of its doses of the vaccine at a clinic just for educators scheduled for March 8-10 at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill.

Wolfe said people won't get a choice of vaccines when they go to get their shot.

"If you try and delay to wait for what you perceive is a better vaccine, that’s just more time you’re leaving yourself exposed to COVID," he said. "I don’t think we should tie ourselves in knots in thinking which one is better than the other. The better one is the one you can get access to."

Wohl said he eventually expects to see widespread acceptance of the single-dose shot.

"This vaccine works very well at preventing the more severe disease, which is really why we want to take a vaccine,” he said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Durham participated in the trials for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Its role came full circle on Wednesday when 400 doses arrived at the hospital.

"It’s really exciting to see something that we were involved in determining the safety and efficacy [of] all the sudden come to fruition and to be able to now offer it to veterans," said Dr. Christopher Hostler, chief of public health at the Durham VA Hospital. "It’s great to have a third weapon in our arsenal against this pandemic."

Maggie Hanna, associate chief of pharmacy operations, said the VA plans to use the one-shot vaccine to reach homebound veterans and those who live in rural areas.

Other area providers receiving Johnson & Johnson doses include the following: