Look at the season the vaccines were rolled out, the temperature and you tell me based on this who REALLY was having the most problems...
What is the difference between how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine works and how the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines work?
The ultimate difference is the way the instructions are delivered. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use mRNA technology, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses the more traditional virus-based technology.
mRNA is essentially a little piece of cod that the vaccine delivers to your cells. The code serves as an instruction manual for your immune system, teaching it to recognize the virus that causes COVID-19 and attack it, should it encounter the real thing.
Instead of using mRNA, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a disabled adenovirus to deliver the instructions. This adenovirus is in no way related to the coronavirus. It is a completely different virus. Although it can deliver the instructions on how to defeat the coronavirus, it can’t replicate in your body and will not give you a viral infection.
Are there benefits to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, based on its technology?
Absolutely. The huge advantage to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is that it is a single shot. The mRNA vaccine requires two.
As well, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine can be kept at essentially refrigerator temperatures for months, and it’s stable. The mRNA vaccines aren’t as stable and require super cold storage temperatures. Once they’re out of cold storage, you only have a small window of time to administer them.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is much more like a regular vaccine and is much easier to distribute and maintain. That has huge implications for rural areas of the country. Those areas might not have the ability to keep the mRNA vaccines at super cold temperatures.