There are now three COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States and thousands of doses of the latest one have arrived in Minnesota.

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Yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz personally welcomed over 45,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine from Johnson & Johnson is only one dose, compared to the two doses needed for the other two vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Johnson & Johnson says their vaccine is 66% effective in preventing moderate and severe disease, but 85% effective against severe disease, the other two vaccines are about 95% effective.

Governor Walz said in a press release, "The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will help our state quickly provide immunity and get us one step closer to ending this pandemic. We know we need broad community protection before we can get back to the normal, enjoyable parts of life we have missed, and the way we get there is by getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Everyone who has the opportunity to get this shot should take it."

As of yesterday Minnesota ranked third in the United States for the percentage of doses received that have been administered. To date, the state has administered 1.4 million doses to almost 930,000 Minnesotans. Over 54% of Minnesotans 65+ and 56% of K-12 educators and child care workers have gotten at least their first dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.

“Minnesotans should be confident that every authorized vaccine is safe and effective, and we encourage everyone to get whatever COVID-19 vaccine is available to them,” said Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

 

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