Many people preferring J&J vaccine now that it is back in use

Both selected Johnson & Johnson for its one-and-done convenience, a preference that outweighed their concerns about the extremely rare blood clots that prompted a 10-day pause in use of the vaccine.

“I’d rather deal with the side effects than die” of covid-19, Woolvin said.

There is no government data yet on whether health authorities’ 10-day halt in administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine soured people on the product, and the company declined to discuss the matter. But in spot checks across the country, people seeking vaccines and officials dispensing them appear eager to resume using the vaccine, which is also easier to store and transport.

On Tuesday, for example, 1,355 people at the racetrack chose Johnson & Johnson at the clinic run by Indiana University Health, while 407 took the Pfizer vaccine, according to spokesman Jonathon Hosea. At a homeless program in San Francisco, drugstores in Maine and universities across the country, the same sentiment is largely true. ...

At a town hall event for evangelicals hosted Tuesday by Wheaton College, National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins said his two young adult grandchildren chose J&J — a decision he supported. Collins described the single shot’s practical benefits and extremely rare clotting risk, but worried that concerns about the company’s vaccine may extend to the other two “in a way that would not be justified by the data we have seen.”...