Nothing like a home grown vaccine being injected into your body.

A little bit of New Jersey is included in the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine that will be available in March, pending all the approvals necessary. That’s because the new vaccine has actually been tested on Rutgers University students.

I’m not gonna lie: I am not going to be standing in line for any vaccination at all. I don’t get a flu vaccine, either. I am young-ish, relatively healthy and have no reason to believe that I could be one of the people who is killed by the sometimes deadly effects of coronavirus. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying the odds are not worth it for me.

 

But if I were forced to get a vaccine for the coronavirus for any reason—travel, seeing loved ones, living my life normally, etc.—I would probably go for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and here’s why.

First of all, the vaccine works the same way the good old (bad old?) vaccines that we know and love (and hate?) works. It injects a “sickness” into you and asks your body to do what it does best — fight off the illness. Now, the idea of doing this, to me, is creepy and sci-fi-worthy but I realize that sometimes for deadly diseases it’s necessary. Polio — I get it. Smallpox — I get it. It doesn’t ask your body to do DNA gymnastics like creating new spike proteins or do funky things with your cells. It just asks your body to fight a fake illness. Simple enough for your body to do and we’ve seen it work a million times.

The other reason I am more of a fan of the J&J vaccine is that it is one dose. Period. It doesn’t require fretting about the booster. And since it works in the traditional way of the vaccines we’re used to, there aren’t questions, as there are with the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA shots, about how many boosters you will eventually need.

Some reports say you might have to get boosted every year, every couple of years or… who knows?

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi's own.

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