Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a White House press conference in the James Brady Press Room of the White House on January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said Sunday he would take the recently approved Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine and urged Americans to take the available shot when they are eligible.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the J&J vaccine on Saturday, giving the U.S. a third tool to fight the pandemic after the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. The company expects to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March.
“All three are really good and people should grab whatever’s most affordable,” Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program.
“If you go to a place and you have J&J, and that’s what’s available now, I’d take it,” Fauci said. “I personally would do the same. I think people need to be vaccinated as quickly and as quickly as possible.”
The J&J vaccine is different from the others because it is a single-dose regimen and does not require patients to return for a second dose. It can be stored at refrigerator temperature for months. The shot has shown 66% effectiveness overall, 72% in the US and 57% in South Africa, which has seen a rapid spread of variant B.1.351.
Although the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed higher efficacy rates in two-dose trials compared to the J&J single-dose vaccine, Fauci insisted that the J&J shot is not a weaker vaccine and said they should not be of comparing trial data for the three dams because they were tested. at different times.
“You now have three highly effective vaccines, for sure,” Fauci said. “There’s no question about that.”
While the country sees a decline in new coronavirus cases and an improvement in the vaccination rate, Fauci warned states not to prematurely relax pandemic restrictions, an action that could lead to a further rise in infections.
Cases have dropped from 300,000 a day to about 70,000, a baseline that is still too high, Fauci said.
“We don’t want to keep preventing people from doing what they want to do. But we’re going down to a good level,” Fauci told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We vaccinate a lot more people. And then you could withdraw that kind of public health measures.”
“But right now, as we go down and the heights are not the time to declare victory because we are not yet victorious,” he said.