
The San Francisco Department of Public Health said Tuesday it will allow people vaccinated with the one-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to receive a supplemental mRNA vaccine dose. Doses will be available at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
Department officials said they were making an “accommodation” for those who have consulted with a physician and said it was not a recommendation or policy change. They said the health department aligns with the US the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which does not currently recommend a booster shot for anyone, including J&J vaccine recipients.
“We are not recommending. We are accommodating requests,” Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy director of health for the department, said during a media briefing. “We have gotten a few requests based on patients talking to their physicians and that's why we are allowing for the accommodation.”
Bobba said the supplemental vaccinations will be recorded the same way all Covid-19 vaccinations are. “These get entered into the system, just like other doses have as well, and the patients that have gotten them will be followed, just as others have gotten the vaccines throughout the country have continued to be followed,” Bobba said.
When asked whether anyone can walk in and receive a supplemental mRNA vaccine dose, Bobba said that each vaccine site in the city will choose how to proceed with the accommodation, but “the expectation is that they have had a discussion with a healthcare provider when they come in.”
The mRNA vaccines are made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, and require two doses for full immunization.