Patrick O’Carroll, head of Health Systems Strengthening and advisor to the Health Campaign Effectiveness Coalition, was recently interviewed by Atlanta NBC affiliate WSB-TV about increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines. The piece discussed the approval of the new Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine, which works differently than the vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer.
O’Carroll discussed the new vaccine’s ability to level the playing field for people in rural or hard-to-reach areas.
“A single-dose vaccine that doesn’t require extraordinarily cold refrigeration is really something we need,” O’Carroll said.
Though the new vaccine is only 85% effective at preventing severe cases, it has been proven to be 100% effective at preventing hospitalization and deaths. That number may well be high enough to flatten the curve.
“At some point, the vaccine is effective enough to stop spread if you get everybody vaccinated,” O’Carroll said.
Patrick O’Carroll, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACMI, is Head of The Task Force’s Health Systems Strengthening sector. In this role, Dr. O’Carroll provides overall strategic and operational direction to the sector that currently consists of the Public Health Informatics Institute, Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network, African Health Workforce Project, MedSurplus Alliance and Health Campaign Effectiveness programs.
Read the full article and watch the interview here.