Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks at a White House press conference in the White House’s James Brady Press Briefing Room on Jan. 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said on Sunday he would take the newly approved Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine and urged Americans to take whatever injection they are eligible for.
The Food and Drug Administration approved J & J’s vaccine on Saturday, giving the US a third tool to fight the pandemic after vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. The company expects to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March.
“All three of them are really, really good, and people should take the one most available to them,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“If you go to a place and you have J&J, and it’s available now, I would take it,” Fauci said. “Personally, I would do the same. I think people should be vaccinated as soon and as soon as possible.”
The J&J vaccine differs from the others in that it is a single dose regimen and does not require patients to return for a second dose. It can be stored at refrigerator temperatures for months. The shot has shown 66% effectiveness overall, 72% in the US and 57% in South Africa, where the B.1.351 variant has spread rapidly.
Although the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed higher efficacy rates in two-dose studies versus J & J’s single-dose vaccine, Fauci insisted that the J&J injection is not a weaker vaccine and said the study data should not be compared for the three injections because they have been tested. on different times.
“You have at least three highly effective vaccines now,” Fauci said. “There is no doubt about that.”
While the country sees a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases and an improvement in vaccination coverage, Fauci warned states not to ease pandemic restrictions prematurely, a move that could lead to another wave of infections.
The number of cases has plummeted from 300,000 a day to about 70,000, a baseline that’s still too high, Fauci said.
“We don’t want to keep preventing people from doing what they want to do. But let’s get to a good level,” Fauci told CBS “Face the Nation.” ‘Let’s get many, many more people vaccinated. And then you could withdraw to those kinds of public health measures. ‘
“But right now, as we go down and plateauing is not the time to declare victory because we are not victorious yet,” he said.