by Linda Straker
- 2,000 doses of J&J/Janssen vaccine arrived Thursday
- Recommended for people 18 years and older
- One dose vaccine and in 2 weeks people will be fully vaccinated
People who are not yet vaccinated now have a third option which requires them to be inoculated once. Ministry of Health on Thursday received thousands of Johnson and Johnson vaccines as a gift from a neighbouring territory.
“We received 2,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine which would be included in our Covid-19 Vaccination Programme,” Health Minister Nickolas Steele said. “With this vaccine, there is not a second dose for those who choose that option. There is no second appointment date; it’s one dose and in 2 weeks they will be classified as fully vaccinated.”
“We are hoping that many more will come forward and be vaccinated, this vaccine is a single shot, and it means that people will be categorised as fully vaccinated within a shorter period,” the Minister said.
The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is recommended for people 18 years and older. The CDC website states that besides fats, sugars and salts, the J&J/Janssen Covid-19 vaccine contains a piece of a modified virus which is not the virus that causes Covid-19.
“This modified virus is called the vector virus. The vector virus cannot reproduce itself, so it is harmless. This vector virus gives instructions to cells in the body to create an immune response. This response helps protect you from getting sick with Covid-19 in the future. After the body produces an immune response, it discards all of the vaccine ingredients just as it would discard any information that cells no longer need. This process is a part of normal body functioning,” said the CDC.
Dr Shawn Charles, Chief Medical Officer said the deployment and administration of the vaccine will begin as early as Friday, 12 November 2021 at all regular vaccination centres.
Grenada began its vaccination programme on 12 February 2021 and, as of 9 November, the total fully vaccinated number is 32,849. The number of partly vaccinated or people with one dose is 6,294. Health officials have said that almost 93,000 people are eligible to be vaccinated.
The other Covid-19 vaccines that are available to the public are AstraZeneca and Cormirnaty which is manufactured by Pfizer, and is the only Covid-19 vaccine that can be administered to children from 12 years.
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