Here are the vaccine sites near Myrtle Beach receiving Johnson & Johnson doses
The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will be distributed to 16 Myrtle Beach area locations in the latest of the state’s vaccination efforts as eligibility opens up to millions more across the state.
Late last month, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was approved for use in the U.S. Most doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in South Carolina will go to pharmacies instead of hospitals or other providers for now, Gov. Henry McMaster said last week at a mass vaccination event in Myrtle Beach.
Starting Monday, roughly 2.7 million more people became eligible to receive the vaccine as authorization opened up to teachers, frontline workers, people with underlying health conditions and people 55 and older as part of the state’s phase 1b in the vaccine rollout.
Here are the Grand Strand providers receiving doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine:
- Care SC Pharmacy, 718 N. Fraser St., Georgetown, SC
- Cherry Grove Drug, 1201 Sea Mountain Highway, North Myrtle Beach, SC
- Conway Pharmacy, 1610 Church St., Suite C, Conway, SC
- Golden Town Pharmacy, 2837 US-501, Aynor, SC
- Health and Wellness Pharmacy, 5405 Dick Pond Road, Myrtle Beach, SC
- Medicine Shoppe, 1061 N. Fraser St., Georgetown, SC
- Meds and More, 3914 Main St., Loris, SC
- Ocean Lakes Pharmacy, 1415 US-17 BUS, Surfside Beach, SC
- Palmetto Infusion Services, 317 Hinson Drive, Myrtle Beach, SC
- Palmetto Infusion Services, 139 Willbrook Blvd., Suite A, Pawleys Island, SC
- Pawleys Island Pharmacy, 9710 Ocean Hwy. 17, Pawleys, Island, SC
- Pawleys Island Pharmacy, 115 Willbrook Blvd., Unit A, Pawleys Island, SC
- Powers Pharmacy of Loris, 3985 Meeting St., Loris, SC
- Rivertown Pharmacy, 2000 Main St., Conway, SC
- Seashore Drugs, 1304 Hwy. 17, Little River, SC
- Waterway Pharmacy, 3373 Hwy. 9 E., Little River, SC
To schedule an appointment for people who are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, contact the provider directly. To find other COVID-19 vaccination locations, visit https://vaxlocator.dhec.sc.gov/.
What to know about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Horry and SC
This vaccine only requires one dose to be effective, as opposed to two doses for the COVID-19 vaccines that have been in use for a few months.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine joins Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to become the third vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use as the country grapples with the pandemic more than a year after it first arrived. Horry County began vaccine distribution in December with healthcare workers among the first to receive shots.
About 41,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were set to be allocated across South Carolina in the first week of distribution, according to DHEC spokesperson Laura Renwick. Because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine doesn’t require more than one dose, that means roughly 41,000 people across the state will be fully vaccinated once this shipment is administered.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is reportedly 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease, Renwick wrote in an email to reporters. It offered “complete protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death as of day 28 following vaccination.
How does Johnson & Johnson compare to Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna?
Some have raised questions about Johnson & Johnson’s efficacy rate. At 85%, its efficacy rate when tested is lower than its counterparts, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which both had reported efficacy rates higher than 94% before being cleared for use in the U.S.
But health experts caution those numbers should be taken in context — the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were tested before the coronavirus variants originating in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil became widespread, and they both require two doses to fully vaccinate an individual.
The single-dose vaccine is welcomed as an opportunity to speed up the vaccination process.
“We believe this new vaccine will help speed up vaccination efforts across the state because it’s a single-dose shot and also can be stored easily, at refrigerated temperatures, for several months,” said Dr. Linda Bell, S.C.’s state epidemiologist.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine can last at least three months in refrigerated temperatures 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit, as opposed to the requirement of ultra-cold storage for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
More than 45,000 people participated in clinical trials for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, also called the Janssen vaccine.
“The Janssen vaccine is a safe and effective vaccine that protects people from severe COVID-19 illness,” Renwick wrote. “This vaccine’s development was held to the same rigorous testing, trial and review standards as all other vaccines, including the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.”
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Correction: A previous version of this story included Medicine Mart in Conway as a Johnson & Johnson vaccine provider. That pharmacy hasn’t received doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The story has been updated to correct the error.
This story was originally published March 8, 2021 at 10:09 AM.
