Columbus Public Health leans on Pfizer vaccine to make up for J&J pause

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even at a standstill, life keeps moving.

One by one, cars pulled into the Celeste Center, Tuesday, driving in their respective lanes and pulling up to get their COVID vaccine shot.

“We definitely preferred [Johnson & Johnson],” Erin Summers said.

Summers and Laura Padgitt had to pivot, Tuesday morning. Originally, they were scheduled to received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. They waited for it wanting that one-and-done shot. Then, they both got a text.

“We just received a text that said it was going to be replaced with the Pfizer vaccine and if we wanted to come, we could come, [and] if we wanted to cancel, we could cancel,” Summers said.

With the CDC and the FDA recommending to pause the J&J shot, Columbus Public Health did just that while making available the Pfizer shot for those who had J&J scheduled. One shot has now turned to two for Summers and Padgitt, but still they say they are thankful.

“We were talking on the way down here about how we’re amazed they were able to pivot and make [Pfizer] available,” Padgitt said.

With questions surrounding the vaccines and possible side effects, Padgitt says by no means did the setback with Johnson & Johnson change her outlook on getting vaccinated.

“It’s not a big deal,” she said. “It doesn’t make me hesitate about getting the vaccine,” she said.

In fact, Summers says the six cases in nearly seven million Johnson & Johnson administered doses still wouldn’t deter her from getting J&J if it had still been offered.

“Absolutely,” Summers said. “We weren’t worried about that. I think the number’s very small and we were still very interested in getting the J&J.”

Dr. Mysheika Roberts, who is the health commissioner with the City of Columbus, says the city has asked the Ohio Department of Health to provide more Pfizer doses to make sure it has enough for the demand.

“I will say that it’s no lie that this is going to slow our progress down,” she said. “We were making some good headway with having three vaccines on the market, especially one that was more mobile and allowed us to do one shot and not have to do a second vaccine. So, it’s going to slow us down, but it’s not going to stop us.”