The new vaccine only requires one dose and can be stored in a refrigerator for up to three months.
Now that Johnson & Johhnson’s one-shot vaccine has been approved for emergency use, Americans are about to have three options. Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one dose instead of two.
It can also be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures for up to three months, making its distribution considerably easier.
“Today’s a really big deal,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health, told Inside Edition. “It’s clearly a very good vaccine. It offers a very, very high level of protection, especially against serious illness.”
But many Americans are still struggling to get an appointment. Benjamin Kagan, 14, first learned how difficult the appointment process is while signing up his grandparents.
"This felt like, you have to be the person with the one-in-a-million shot that when your WiFi refreshes at the right time, you're gonna get lucky, and that's really what it was,” Benjamin said.
The teen decided to come to the aid of older folks, through the Facebook group Chicago vaccine hunters. So far, he’s helped 115 total strangers get vaccines.
“Within 12 hours of submitting the form, Benjamin was on the phone with me, telling me there were excess doses in a hospital in downtown Chicago, and I immediately flew out the door and drove an hour and 15 minutes, got to the hospital and got my shot,” said one woman.
“Benjamin is my hero. He absolutely is my hero,” she added.
Benjamin says he won't stop until everyone who wants a vaccine gets one.
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