Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Coming To Minnesota This Week

MINNESOTA — Thousands of doses of Johnson & Johnson's new single-dose vaccine against the coronavirus are expected to arrive in Minnesota later this week, according to health department officials. The vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA on Saturday.

The state is scheduled to receive an initial shipment of 45,200 doses this week, followed by regular shipments of an unspecified amount, said Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health. The doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will join the state's preexisting allotment of doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

Johnson & Johnson aims to ship out 20 million doses of the vaccine by the end of March and 100 million doses by the middle of 2021, said Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer and executive committee vice chairman Dr. Paul Stoffels.

“For more than 130 years, Johnson & Johnson has come to the aid of people during times of crisis, and we believe today’s recommendation from the CDC to begin use of our vaccine as part of the U.S. national immunization program will add a critical tool in the fight against COVID-19,” Stoffels said in a statement.

Related: MN Coronavirus Vaccine Hub: Where, Who And How To Get Immunized

According to the company, a recent study showed the vaccine is 85 percent effective in preventing severe COVID-19 disease and showed protection against hospitalization and death from the virus.

Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine requires only a single dose to protect its recipients. According to the release, the vaccine's protections being approximately 28 days after inoculation.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 472,789 Minnesotans had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to state data. Further, over 16% of the state’s population had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

All told, over 1.3 million doses of the vaccine had been administered in Minnesota as of Tuesday.

Over the weekend, the state set consecutive records for highest one-day vaccinations, giving out some 56,000 doses on Saturday and about 70,000 doses on Sunday. The Associated Press Reports the massive vaccination push is in response to delays in supply caused by bad weather around the country.

With the release of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Minnesota Public Radio News reports the state is on pace to offer vaccines to 80 percent of its residents by August.

Officials on Tuesday said they plan to roll out vaccines to various groups of Minnesotans based on age, job and risk. By April, shots will be available to residents with medical conditions in high risk categories and to certain frontline workers.

In May, the vaccine should become available to Minnesotans with additional risk factors and residents over the age of 50 who live in multigenerational homes, officials said. Late spring is expected to bring with it vaccine availability for residents over the age of 18 who have medical conditions, all adults between 50 and 64 and other essential workers.

If all goes to plan, vaccinations will be available to the general public by the summer.

In a Tuesday afternoon press conference, officials explained the Johnson & Johnson vaccine operates differently from the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which rely on messenger RNA to deliver a "spike protein" into the cells and teach them to fight the virus.

Instead, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine relies on a disabled adenovirus to teach cells how to defend themselves against the COVID-19 virus. Officials said that although the new vaccine contains a disabled virus, does not cause a coronavirus infection or pose any additional health hazards.

Additional, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown no signs of causing allergic reactions and can be kept at warmer temperatures than other vaccines, meaning it is a good option for delivering inoculations to home-bound residents, officials said.

Health department officials on Tuesday also announced an additional 443 cases of the coronavirus were reported in Minnesota on Monday, bringing the state's total number of cases since the pandemic began to 845,655.

Another four deaths were also reported, bringing the state's death toll to 6,490.

As of Tuesday, 243 people across Minnesota were hospitalized with COVID-19, 57 of whom were in ICU facilities, officials said.

"Across all populations and age groups in Johnson & Johnson’s clinical trial, the vaccine was shown to be 100% effective against hospitalization and death," Department of Health spokesman Schultz told Patch in an email. "...all Minnesotans should be confident that every authorized vaccine is safe and effective, and we encourage everyone to get whatever COVID-19 vaccine they are offered."