Which booster can I take if I got Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccination?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - We’re asking about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

A viewer that wants to remain anonymous writes: “As we move to where everyone is eligible for a booster shot and you can mix which vaccine you get, I am confused about Johnson & Johnson. Their booster says you need it after two months.”

“I got my Johnson & Johnson shot on April 1 of this year. Then there was no talk about boosters and it was thought that once gotten, you were fully vaccinated. Am I vaccinated? If I get a booster of Pfizer or Moderna, do I only get one shot or do I need to start over and get two? If I get Johnson & Johnson again, do I have to get a booster every two months?”

Good question.

Let’s start with whether or not you are considered to be fully vaccinated.

The CDC says if you have gotten both doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of J&J, you are considered to be fully vaccinated regardless of whether you’ve gotten your booster.

The vaccination is the foundation. The booster is an extra layer of protection.

One doctor from Yale said, “It’s better to think of boosters as a way to get the most impact.”

The J&J vaccine’s clinical trials found it was 72 percent effective in the U.S.

That’s good on its own.

But a study by the National Institutes of Health found a booster J&J shot increased antibody levels by four to six times.

There was an even bigger jump in protection when someone who got J&J got a booster of Moderna or Pfizer.

And that leads to your next question.

Which booster do you get?

If you got J&J initially, you can get any of the other vaccines as a booster.

The CDC has signed off on mixing and matching. You don’t need to start over. You simply get one booster shot.

And as for whether you need to get another booster every two months, likely not, but it’s unclear if we’ll need to get boosters again in the future.

Doctors are still studying how long these vaccines protect us and how quickly COVID mutates.

It might be that we need boosters every year or it could end up being that we don’t need them at all.

Copyright 2021 WBTV. All rights reserved.