SACRAMENTO, Calif — Officials in Sacramento, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties confirmed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be arriving in their respective counties this week.
On Thursday, a Stanislaus County official said they're expecting 4,500 doses of the single-dose vaccine and San Joaquin County officials said they are expecting 2,600 doses.
Sacramento County confirmed that 5,500 doses are expected this week.
The single-dose vaccine is a boon for vaccination efforts in hard to reach communities and areas where scheduling a second appointment for Moderna or Pfizer is challenging. Some of those groups include homeless populations and farmworkers.
On Thursday, the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services said the plan was to use the vaccine for mobile clinics.
Dr. Olivia Kasirye, Sacramento County Public Health Officer, said the county is doing outreach to ease comfort levels for the vaccine.
"(There's) a lot of ways that we can use it and so we are in the process of doing outreach, answering questions about the safety and making sure that people are comfortable being able to receive it," Dr. Kasirye said.
Stanislaus County said the vaccine makes a huge difference to vaccination efforts because it didn't need colder storage temperatures and could also be stored for longer spans of time.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the third vaccine in the mix, along with Moderna and Pfizer, as the nation tries to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
While there are some difference among the vaccines, Kamlesh Kaur, public health spokesperson for Stanislaus County, said all the vaccines are effective at preventing death and hospitalization from COVID-19.
“We encourage our community members to please get any vaccine that is available to them, whether it’s Johnson & Johnson or whether it's Moderna,” Kaur said.
“We encourage our community members to not pick a vaccine based on convenience... whatever is available at the clinic please go ahead and get that,” she added.
WATCH ALSO:
