As booster appointments continue to open, Cincinnati doctors say they do not want patients to be overwhelmed by all their options or the ability to mix and match vaccines.TriHealth Infectious Disease Director Dr. Stephen Blatt told WLWT while all three COVID-19 vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — provide an "extremely effective" response in helping prevent serious cases of COVID-19, some patients should consider different kinds based on their own health needs.Blatt says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine does pose a small and rare risk to cause myocarditis in men aged 18-24. He says he has seen one case of myocarditis in men linked to the COVID-19 vaccine at TriHealth, but added, overall, only five to 10 cases have been reported for every million mRNA vaccine patients. For this reason, Blatt recommends young men and people with known heart problems to consider taking the Johnson & Johnson booster shot. While Blatt says myocarditis can typically be treated and resolved in one to two weeks, he still advises people to stay away from potential inflammation of the heart muscle."Well, I think any sort of side effect people should be aware of," Blatt said. "And in rare cases, myocarditis could be serious — serious enough to land you in the hospital, which nobody wants to do. And so I think, in the big picture, what we want to do is reduce any potential side effects to as low as possible and make sure people are informed about which vaccine choices they have."Blatt went on to advise women of child-birthing years to potentially skip the Johnson & Johnson booster due to rare cases of blood clots linked to the vaccine. In spring 2021, the CDC and FDA recommended a pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women out of 7 million had developed blood clots. Instead, he recommends women potentially take the mRNA vaccine boosters instead. Still, with the varying recommendations, Blatt says people shouldn't be deterred from getting the booster. "I think it's really important to put this all in perspective," Blatt said of possible booster health risks. "These risks are incredibly rare. And you're much more likely to get killed in an auto accident on the way to work than you already have any of these side effects. So I think it's really important to put them in perspective — that the benefit from these vaccines far outweighs any side effects that you might rarely expect to see."Blatt recommends anyone with concerns or questions to talk with their personal doctor to develop a COVID-19 booster plan.
As booster appointments continue to open, Cincinnati doctors say they do not want patients to be overwhelmed by all their options or the ability to mix and match vaccines.
TriHealth Infectious Disease Director Dr. Stephen Blatt told WLWT while all three COVID-19 vaccines — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — provide an "extremely effective" response in helping prevent serious cases of COVID-19, some patients should consider different kinds based on their own health needs.
Blatt says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine does pose a small and rare risk to cause myocarditis in men aged 18-24.
He says he has seen one case of myocarditis in men linked to the COVID-19 vaccine at TriHealth, but added, overall, only five to 10 cases have been reported for every million mRNA vaccine patients. For this reason, Blatt recommends young men and people with known heart problems to consider taking the Johnson & Johnson booster shot.
While Blatt says myocarditis can typically be treated and resolved in one to two weeks, he still advises people to stay away from potential inflammation of the heart muscle.
"Well, I think any sort of side effect people should be aware of," Blatt said. "And in rare cases, myocarditis could be serious — serious enough to land you in the hospital, which nobody wants to do. And so I think, in the big picture, what we want to do is reduce any potential side effects to as low as possible and make sure people are informed about which vaccine choices they have."
Blatt went on to advise women of child-birthing years to potentially skip the Johnson & Johnson booster due to rare cases of blood clots linked to the vaccine.
In spring 2021, the CDC and FDA recommended a pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women out of 7 million had developed blood clots. Instead, he recommends women potentially take the mRNA vaccine boosters instead.
Still, with the varying recommendations, Blatt says people shouldn't be deterred from getting the booster.
"I think it's really important to put this all in perspective," Blatt said of possible booster health risks. "These risks are incredibly rare. And you're much more likely to get killed in an auto accident on the way to work than you already have any of these side effects. So I think it's really important to put them in perspective — that the benefit from these vaccines far outweighs any side effects that you might rarely expect to see."
Blatt recommends anyone with concerns or questions to talk with their personal doctor to develop a COVID-19 booster plan.
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