Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause is only a pause, not a cancellation, and he doubts it will last for weeks. a months.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine in six reported cases or “a rare and severe type of blood clot” reported in the US.
Speaking on CNN’s New Day program on Wednesday, Fauci said: “There is a double reason: one to be very careful about safety, take a quick look, get more details, but also go to the doctors if you see in this types of cases, do not treat them with heparin. There are other treatment modalities that could be used. “
The pause, in his mind, should “underline and confirm how seriously we take security, even though it is a very rare event.”
Fauci told CNN that he had no reason to believe there were many more cases, but that the pause is there to take a look to see if there are other cases.
“If anyone has any doubts that safety may not be taken very seriously, I think it’s a statement that safety is a major consideration when it comes to the FDA and the CDC,” he said. “That’s why it was done and that’s why it’s a break.”
It is not a cancellation, it is a pause, “Fauci stressed.
After speaking with the CDC and the FDA, Fauci said he believes it is “very likely that more days to weeks will pass than weeks to months. I doubt very seriously if we talk from weeks to months.”
On the broader issue of vaccine hesitation, Fauci said that while the method of waiting and seeing is “understandable,” there is enough data in favor of vaccines.
“More than 120 million, about 130 million people have already received at least one dose. It’s a lot of people. How long do you want to wait and see? You have almost half of the country that has received at least one dose. I think we’ve had enough wait to see. Let’s do it, ”he said.
And as more people are vaccinated, Fauci also said deaths from the virus will continue to decline, although cases may increase.
“The most vulnerable, to the extent of relative proportion, are protected,” he said. “As more and more people (from 3 to 4 million people a day get vaccinated), the vaccine component will get stronger, and then you’ll see the cases decrease.”
Listen to the interview with Dr. CNN jaws: