WellMed will resume administering the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine starting Wednesday.
The vaccines will be offered at two locations: the Alicia Trevino Lopez Senior One-Stop Center (8353 Culebra) or the Elvira Cisneros Senior Community Center (517 SW Military).
The J&J vaccine had been put on hold by the state after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended providers do so earlier this month.
Metro Health Assistant Director Anita Kurian said this particular vaccine is an important tool in the fight to end the pandemic.
“The simplicity of this being a single dose and the ease of storing and handling it at the remote locations make it an ideal candidate to be used at our mobile clinic sites,” she said in an interview with TPR.
San Antonio’s Wellmed will also begin offering the J&J shot at two of its clinics on Wednesday.
The CDC and FDA had recommended that vaccine providers stop offering the J&J vaccine — temporarily — after 6 women who had received that shot experienced dangerous blood clots. One of them died. They lifted that pause on Friday.
Kurian said she feels comfortable with that decision.
“The J&J is an important tool in our fight against COVID-19. And the scientific review over the last 11 days has further affirmed its safety and effectiveness,” she said.
Not only is the J&J vaccine one dose, but it can be stored in a refrigerator, making it an ideal vaccine for mobile vaccination units. Both the Moderna and the Pfizer are two dose vaccines that need to be kept in freezers.
According to a statement released on Monday regarding the J&J vaccine, WellMed officials said the health care company has 1,945 J&J doses available in San Antonio.
Click here for more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in San Antonio (aquí para español).
