Pausing Use Of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Impacting Distribution In Rural Colorado
WELD COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – The temporary suspension of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines could disproportionately impact rural Coloradans, as some providers have been relying on the single-day-single-dose convenience of the vaccine in rural communities. Some health advocates in rural Weld County said the suspension of Johnson & Johnson impacted their ability to vaccinate rural Coloradans in an efficient way, at least temporarily.
Some rural Coloradans, like many in the small town of Eaton in northeast Colorado, relied on the state's COVID-19 Mobile Vaccination Clinic to get their vaccines. The clinic-on-wheels stopped in Eaton to give out hundreds of Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The idea was to have a single-stop clinic to help out as many as possible, giving the state the ability to make more stops each week.
"The Johnson & Johnson was convenient for getting to multiple places throughout the state," said Deb Suniga of the Latino COVID Equity Commission. "It is a one shot vaccination. So, we can put our efforts in to going to more places, rather than having to come back around and do a second vaccination."
Suniga told CBS4's Dillon Thomas some COVID vaccination clinics in rural Colorado are now attempting to replace their Johnson & Johnson supply with Pfizer. Doing so has been necessary, yet has put them days behind in their effort to vaccinate as many as possible.
"It is a little bit of a hiccup, Dillon. But, it will only put us a few days behind," Suniga said. "We are looking at putting the Pfizer vaccine in the mobile clinics for rural Colorado."
Suniga said the securing of Pfizer vaccines will take a few days, and will also impact their ability to make more frequent stops throughout northeast and southeast Colorado. The team will now have to plan a loop, where they will return to rural communities every 21 days to give second doses.
"It does have an impact, because we were using Johnson & Johnson for the harder to reach population groups," said Eric Aakko, spokesperson for Weld County Health.
Aakko said the Johnson & Johnson suspension did have an impact on the county's efforts to vaccine many. However, its impact was relatively limited. Not including private providers, Weld County itself has administered more than 163,000 vaccines thus far. Only 4,000 of those were Johnson & Johnson.
"We have lots of Moderna and lots of Pfizer available. Anyone who wants the vaccine right now, we are encouraging to come and get it. Because, we have lots of it," Aakko said.
Suniga said the distribution change may have slowed their efforts to promote vaccine equity among rural Coloradans as well. However, she said it would not stop them.
"This isn't going to stop us," Suniga said.
