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Comment by shortrounddev2 | Hacker News Reader

During the pandemic there was controversy about who received Moderna/Phizer vs who received J&J's vaccine. They were giving black neighborhoods J&J because it didn't have as strict refrigeration requirements, and a lot of black neighborhoods don't have a nearby pharmacy which can store the vaccines. J&J was thought to be less effective and had a higher rate of vaccine injury though.

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J&J was very effective. They came later and turned out to be less effective than Moderna/Phizer - but their vaccine was still very good when viewed in isolation - they just were unfortunate to have an amazingly great competitor to compare against.

When I think of COVID and refrigeration trucks I think of them being used as makeshift morgues before the bodies were moved to mass graves.

> had a higher rate of vaccine injury though.

Given the most common vaccine injury is caused by improper administration, I wonder if that could be related? ie. less trained staff would potentially be administering vaccines in black neighbourhoods? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder_injury_related_to_vac...

> J&J was though to be less effective and had a higher rate of vaccine injury though.

What's a 'vaccine injury', though?

Side effects of the vaccine basically. I guess technically headaches or fatigue would be a vaccine injury

But I use the phrase "thought to" intentionally: I don't know what the science says now, but at the time there were reported cases of myocarditis in people who took the JnJ vaccine. This was like May of 2021, so I don't know if the science ever panned out on that, but it definitely drove discussions around health equity with the vaccine

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