CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is OK to mix and match vaccines when you get your booster. One woman explains why she mixed even before the CDC gave the green light.
What You Need To Know
Charlotte Dr. Jennie Hauschka received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last November in a clinical trial
By the summer both she and her husband had tested positive for COVID-19
In August she decided to get the Pfizer vaccine for added protection
Dr. Jennie Hauschka is a gynecologist at Tryon Medical Partners in Charlotte. It was a career she had dreamed of since she was a child.
“My mom volunteered at a mother and baby clinic when I was in grade school,” Hauschka said. “I just fell in love with moms and babies.”
Hauschka sees dozens of patients a day, and her appointments are usually in-person. She often comes in close contact with them given the nature of her work.
“I wanted to make sure I got vaccinated as early as possible and decrease the chance I would ever give COVID-19 or any other virus to a patient,” Hauschka said.
When she found out about a clinical trial for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last November she signed up. Some received a placebo and some received the real dose. In December she found out she received the real vaccine. It’s why she was surprised when she and her daughter tested positive for COVID-19 two months later.
“I’m not exactly sure how we contracted COVID-19, but I was really relieved that I had already been vaccinated and was asymptomatic,” Hauschka said. “I think it would been much worse if I hadn’t gotten the vaccine.”
Her husband had also received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Over the summer he was a breakthrough case as well.
“There was not a recommendation on boosters then, but I was so worried about exposing patients or getting it again myself,” Hauschka said. “That proved to me the Johnson & Johnson immunity did not last as long as we were hoping.”
Novant Health infectious disease Dr. David Priest says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a lower efficacy rate than the mRNA vaccines.
“I think at the end of the day, Johnson & Johnson should have been a two-dose series like we have seen with other vaccines,” Priest said.
One study done by the National Institutes of Health found that mixing any combination of vaccine boosters prompted an antibody response. These antibodies stop the virus and protect you from illness. They found the biggest difference in antibody levels was in patients who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as their first dose. But this study hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet.
Hauschka decided to get the Pfizer vaccine in August.
“I feel better knowing I have the antibody response from the Johnson & Johnson, the natural immunity from having COVID-19, but mostly I feel protected having recently gotten the Pfizer vaccine,” Hauschka said.