As some skip 2nd COVID vaccine dose, here’s why Charlotte experts warn against that
Across the U.S., more than five million people have missed their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines as of early April, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That includes some people in the Charlotte area, according to North Carolina-based hospital system Novant Health.
That’s not a good trend, local health experts say, emphasizing that it’s critical people get both doses of the Pfizer and Moderna shots.
“While one dose of the vaccine is good to have, I want to stress the importance of getting your second dose to ensure you get full protection, and that we can get toward that herd immunity threshold,” Novant Health infectious disease expert Dr. David Priest said.
People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna, and two weeks after the single injection of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the CDC.
So it’s important that people get the second dose to get maximum protection against the coronavirus, Priest said.
Novant Health has seen some people skip their second doses, but the number of people skipping that dose is fairly low still, Priest said.
Some people may be concerned about side effects from the second dose, which can be more noticeable than the first dose, Priest said. But side effects — including tiredness, headache or fever — do not always occur, and if they do, are typically mild and only last for a short period of time, he said.
Charlotte’s largest hospital system, Atrium Health, is seeing a “fairly steady uptake” of the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccines, infectious disease expert Dr. Katie Passaretti said.
The first dose provides some level of protection, she said. “But the second dose is really what gets you into higher-level protection,” she said.
“I just would strongly encourage people to follow up and get that shot so we don’t see our (COVID-19) numbers start to slide.”
The concern around people skipping their second dose comes as local health experts worry vaccine hesitancy overall could lead to slower rates of vaccination in North Carolina.
Mecklenburg County still lags behind the state’s overall vaccination rate.
In Mecklenburg, 36.3% of county residents are at least partially vaccinated and 23.8% of residents are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to state Department of Health and Human Services data.
Statewide, 38.4% of NC residents are at least partially vaccinated and 30.5% of residents are fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.
While local health officials do not have specific numbers on how many people are skipping their second dose of the vaccine, the CDC reported Monday that about 8% of people nationwide have failed to show up for the second dose.
The one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine was pulled from the market briefly after evidence of a rare form of blood clot surfaced in a handful of people, but use of the vaccine was reinstated Friday.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 12:45 PM.
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