What you need to know about mixing and matching COVID vaccines, getting boosters

Dr. Leana Wen:

Yes, so this is very different. And I should say that I am one of the 15 million Americans who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

For women under the age of 50, which is the category that I am in, I would not recommend that they get a second Johnson & Johnson booster. I would recommend that they receive one of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, one of the mRNA doses. And that's because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been associated with a very rare, but very serious blood-clotting disorder.

This is not a run-of-the-mill blood clot. This is a very serious disorder that can be fatal, again, very rare. But for younger women, there is an option. There is another option of Pfizer or Moderna is not associated with this particular side effects. And so, for those individuals, I would definitely recommend a second mRNA dose, instead of the J&J booster.

I should also mention that the FDA and CDC essentially are saying, even though they haven't explicitly said this, but they're essentially forecasting that the J&J vaccine should have been a two-dose vaccine from the start. And so, unlike Pfizer and Moderna, where only individuals in a high-risk category should be getting a booster six months after their first two doses, for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, anyone after two months, regardless of risk, should actually be getting a second dose of something.

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