J&J pause triggers concern about vaccine hesitancy in Ventura County

Jennifer Miller didn't want a COVID-19 vaccine. The 50-year-old Ventura attorney worried about the lack of long-term studies on the safety of the inoculations and the possibility of lasting side effects.

At the same time, Miller didn't want to miss out on activities that may reopen only for those who have received their shots. So, she relented and received her first Pfizer-BioNTech dose Wednesday at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

"I feel it like I need it to live in California — to have a normal life," Miller said after her inoculation. 

Public health officials' worries about vaccine hesitancy mushroomed Tuesday after federal officials reported that six recent cases of rare blood clots in women who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Health officials in Ventura County and across the nation immediately stopped administering the one-shot vaccine. A committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the pause should be continued until more is known about blood clots.

Few as there are, the reported complications linked to the Johnson & Johnson shots will undoubtedly fuel fears about all COVID-19 vaccines, physicians predicted, possibly impeding progress toward herd immunity.

"We're in the middle of trying to tell people, 'It's safe. Trust us,'" said Dr. Jim Hornstein, a Ventura family physician. "Then all of a sudden the CDC says, 'Hold on, let’s pause this.'"

Herd immunity occurs when the proportion of the inoculated population is high enough to significantly slow the spread of the virus. Scientists believe immunity for COVID-19 may come when 70% to 80% of the population is vaccinated.

Horenstein said he encounters patients with doubts about COVID-19 vaccines at least weekly. He and other physicians are concerned that people who were already reluctant to get the shots will view the Johnson & Johnson suspension as an affirmation of their concerns. 

Hornstein said the pause should actually relieve anxiety because it shows the government's vigilance in protecting people.

"It makes me more confident," he said, noting that the confirmed cases of complications represented an extremely tiny fraction of the more than 7 million people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Concerns about vaccine hesitancy were initially driven by polls suggesting as many as 50% of Americans weren't sure about the safety of COVID inoculations or did not want them.

But when the vaccines finally emerged in December, the demand for them far outstripped the supply. The surge in COVID hospitalizations and deaths further motivated people to get vaccinated, said Dr. Jeff Goad, professor of pharmacy at Chapman University and a member of a state vaccine working group. 

More than 83% of Ventura County's residents 65 and older have received at least one dose, much to the satisfaction of county health officials.

The inoculation rate could fall as COVID cases in California decline, even with the emergence of multiple coronavirus variants, Goad said.

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"If people don’t see it. If they don’t feel it, they don’t perceive the risk," he said. "Unfortunately, we’re in a race with the variants."

Doctors are particularly worried about vaccine hesitancy in Black and Latino communities that are more vulnerable to serious illness. They include Dr. Gagan Pawar, chief medical officer of Clinicas del Camino Real, which serves Ventura County's farmworkers.

Pawar said as many as 40 percent of the patients who talk to the clinics' healthcare staff express doubts or have decided against getting the shots. Patient concerns range from infertility to a perceived government conspiracy that involves planting microchips in their bodies, she said. 

Other people are concerned about the use of a cell line from aborted fetal tissue in the development of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Mark Sinclair, 56, of Ojai, said he has read so many things about vaccines on the Internet, he doesn't know what to believe.

"I'm just a layman," he said at the Ventura County Fairgrounds vaccination site, also expressing concerns about the pace of vaccine research. "Just the fact that they pushed the whole thing so fast."

Sinclair decided to go ahead with the vaccine because he wanted to protect his family. He received his first Pfizer-BioNTech dose Wednesday.

Doctors and others said they respond to concerns by listening and addressing each one. Catholic leaders have said people can use the Johnson & Johnson shots if no other vaccines are available. There is no evidence of a link between vaccines and miscarriages. Side effects are hit and miss and typically fade away within days.

Pawar said people with doubts often decide to go ahead with the shots.

Melissa Baffa of Ventura sees the second Pfizer shot that she received Wednesday as a big gain — a ticket back to more normal life — compared with the risks associated with the vaccines. 

"Life comes with risk," she said. "I figured my risk of catching the disease or spreading it was much greater."

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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