Column: Having all three vaccines will ensure Hawaii’s health

When we talk about COVID-19 vaccines, the most important information sometimes gets lost in detailed discussions about percentages, allocations, brand names and distribution methods. And, already, people throughout the country have raised concerns — via social media and word of mouth discussions — about the new vaccination option.

The problem is, with these concerns, discussions around vaccine preference have become increasingly common. Here’s what’s most important: All three vaccines available in Hawaii today are nearly flawless in their effectiveness at preventing death from COVID-19.

Today, here in Hawaii, we have three FDA-approved vaccines that work, and our community was able to begin vaccinating with Pfizer and Moderna supplies months ago. Johnson & Johnson — which arrived on March 3 — is the newest addition to the vaccines available to island residents. Thanks to its arrival, more than 400,000 total vaccine doses have been administered.

Moreover, its efficacy at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths rivals that of Pfizer and Moderna. Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose protocol means it’s a safer choice for people whose obligations make it difficult to get back to a distribution point a second time, as is required for both Pfizer and Moderna. It’s also an excellent option for transient populations and kupuna who are the most vulnerable to the severe effects brought on by the virus.

The efficacy percentages so often cited — 95% for Pfizer, 94% for Moderna and 66% for Johnson & Johnson — while all true, refer to preventing any COVID-19 symptoms, including the mildest sickness, and all three differ in their definition of “severe” COVID-19.

It’s important to understand that each vaccine was tested under evolving conditions. When Johnson & Johnson was in clinical trials, the pandemic surge was at its peak, which meant test subjects were far more likely to be exposed to the virus than test subjects in the Moderna or Pfizer trials that took place earlier in the year.

Furthermore, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccination went through trials after new variants emerged and were tested on trial participants in countries facing more contagious forms of the variant, such as B.1.351.

That said, all three vaccines were carefully tested for safety, reliability and efficacy, by researchers, scientists and medical professionals around the world. All three vaccinations are also critical tools to protect our loved ones from becoming hospitalized or dying from COVID-19. This also means that — in effect — all three vaccines will help keep hospital capacity down, placing less strain on the frontline healthcare workers who have worked around the clock for months to care for our community.

Ensuring our community is vaccinated will also lead us to herd immunity, allowing our economic recovery as a state and getting people back to work across all sectors and industries.

The bottom line is that vaccinations are the key to Hawaii’s recovery. As soon as you have the opportunity to receive a vaccine — any of the three — please take it. The higher the percentage of our vaccinated population, the safer our community is as a whole and the quicker we will move toward economic recovery.

Thomas Lee, Ph.D., is the co-chair of HiPAM, a collection of Hawaii’s epidemiologists, data scientists, health workers and professionals working to address the COVID-19 pandemic.