A woman receives a shot of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at a pop-up vaccination center at the beach, in South Beach, Florida, on May 9, 2021.
Eva Marie Uzcategui | AFP | Getty Images
The pause on Johnson & Johnson‘s Covid-19 vaccine due to a rare blood-clotting problem did not disrupt the U.S. vaccine rollout, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawmakers at a Senate hearing Tuesday.
U.S. health regulators urged states to stop using J&J’s shots in April after six women, ages 18 to 48, developed potentially life-threatening blood clots that can lead to stroke.
Some people said the regulatory pause seemed to increase vaccine hesitancy in the U.S.
“I don’t believe it was a setback, and if it was, we’ve certainly recovered from it,” Fauci said at a hearing on the pandemic.
A lot of people prefer the one-shot vaccine to those from Moderna and Pfizer, which both require two doses spaced about a month apart, Fauci said. He also said that the pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine underscored how seriously the government takes safety.
“The FDA, the CDC looked at the data, they wanted to find out if there are any more. They wanted to alert the physicians who might be out there seeing patients about the proper way to treat them,” Fauci said. “In the long run, in the big picture, when all was said and done, I do not believe it was a setback, I think it really underscored how seriously we all take safety,” Fauci said.
