[EDIT: QUESTION BASED ON INACCURATE UNDERSTANDING OF J&J] Booster for Omicron question:
Is there any reason why getting a J&J booster now would be a bad idea? (E.g., would it prevent you from getting an Omicron updated mRNA booster?)
Why getting the J&J might be a good idea:
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines inject you with mRNA that tricks your body into manufacturing a piece of the Covid19 virus called its “spike protein.” Your body then learns to recognize this specific protein and attack it.
However, the omicron variant has ~30 mutations that make it “spike protein” different from the original virus.
Alternatively, the J&J vaccine injects you with a bunch of non-infectious copies of the virus. In this case, your body can learn to recognize and attack many different parts of the virus.
The best thing would be an updated mRNA booster that codes for Omicron. In the meantime, it seems like it would be good for people who are immunocompromised or otherwise pretty worried to get J&J.
The J&J vaccine also only codes for the spike protein:
The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine is a colorless to slightly yellow, clear to very opalescent sterile suspension for intramuscular injection. It contains no visible particulates. The vaccine consists of a replication-incompetent recombinant adenovirus type 26 (Ad26) vector expressing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (S) protein in a stabilized conformation.
It is a viral vector vaccine based on a human adenovirus that has been modified to contain the gene for making the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19
So it’s not better than the mRNA vaccines in this sense, as far as I understand (I don’t know if that makes it a bad idea, as such).
Chinese CoronaVac and the Sinopharm BIBP and WIBP vaccines; the Indian Covaxin; later this year the Russian CoviVac; the Kazakhstani vaccine QazVac; and the Iranian COVIran Barekat.
But those are probably much harder to get for readers in Western countries. And they’ve generally been found to be less effective, I think; possibly because the inactivation process damages the proteins.
[EDIT: QUESTION BASED ON INACCURATE UNDERSTANDING OF J&J]
Booster for Omicron question:Is there any reason why getting a J&J booster now would be a bad idea? (E.g., would it prevent you from getting an Omicron updated mRNA booster?)Why getting the J&J might be a good idea:The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines inject you with mRNA that tricks your body into manufacturing a piece of the Covid19 virus called its “spike protein.” Your body then learns to recognize this specific protein and attack it.However, the omicron variant has ~30 mutations that make it “spike protein” different from the original virus.Alternatively, the J&J vaccine injects you with a bunch of non-infectious copies of the virus. In this case, your body can learn to recognize and attack many different parts of the virus.The best thing would be an updated mRNA booster that codes for Omicron. In the meantime, it seems like it would be good for people who are immunocompromised or otherwise pretty worried to get J&J.The J&J vaccine also only codes for the spike protein:
Wikipedia says:
So it’s not better than the mRNA vaccines in this sense, as far as I understand (I don’t know if that makes it a bad idea, as such).
The inactivated virus type vaccines are
But those are probably much harder to get for readers in Western countries. And they’ve generally been found to be less effective, I think; possibly because the inactivation process damages the proteins.