Covid vaccines: Why some Americans are choosy about their jab

America has three vaccines approved for distribution, and now people are getting choosy about which they want.

All three have been shown to be effective at preventing Covid-19 disease and, crucially, hospital admissions and death – and health officials have said the best vaccine is the one you’re offered.

Still, there appears to be a preference growing for the Pfizer and Moderna jabs over the Johnson & Johnson option.

In early March, Detroit mayor Mike Duggan rejected the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for city residents, suggesting that the other two jabs available in the US were superior.

“I am going to do everything I can to make sure the residents of the City of Detroit get the best,” he said in a press conference.

After widespread outcry from the public health community, the mayor did an about-face, saying he had “full confidence” that the jab was safe and effective.

But like Mr Duggan, some Americans have also shown concerns about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and its overall efficacy rates – even though health officials have cautioned those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Some say they’d rather delay their vaccination than take Johnson & Johnson at all, potentially throwing a wrench into the distribution plans of community health officials.

“I had an appointment for a vaccine this week, and I cancelled it because I heard they were giving out Johnson & Johnson. I’m not taking [that vaccine] at all.

Now, health officials like Dr Michele Andrasik are trying to reassure Americans that any authorised vaccine offered to them is a good one to take.

“On one hand, people are excited that there’s just one shot [for Johnson & Johnson], and on the other, there’s a lot of confusion with regard to what the efficacy results actually say and does this mean it’s not as good,” Dr Andrasik, senior staff scientist for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutch, told the BBC.

In February, US regulators formally approved the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine – the latest to get the green light.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which use new mRNA vaccine technology and require two shots, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a common cold virus that has been engineered to make it harmless.

Read More

Boulder shooting: 10 victims range from 20 to 65 years old.

All 10 victims of the mass shooting at a Boulder King Soopers were identified on Tuesday morning, as was the 21-year-old man who is charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder.

The victims, according to Boulder police, are:

Denny Strong, 20
Neven Stanisic, 23
Rikki Olds, 25
Tralona Bartkowiak, 49
Teri Leiker, 51
Eric Talley, 51
Suzanne Fountain, 59
Kevin Mahoney, 61
Lynn Murray, 62
Jodi Waters, 65
Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold also identified the suspect as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa from Arvada. Authorities said there is an extensive investigation into his background, but that he has lived in the U.S. for most of his life.