Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (D) defends his decision to refuse a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, say in a press conference Thursday that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are better and he wants Detroit residents to “get the best.”
Duggan had rejected 6,200 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was approved for the third emergency permit by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last weekend.
The mayor said the city received 29,000 of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccinations this week, which he said was enough to vaccinate every resident who so far qualifies for the vaccine and wanted one.
According to the city’s health department, residents 50 and older with an underlying medical condition, production workers, school personnel, and others identified in high-priority groups are currently eligible for coronavirus vaccination.
So Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer are the best, ”Duggan said Thursday. “And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Detroit residents get the best.”
Clinical trials with both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have shown that they are about 95 percent effective in preventing moderate to severe cases of COVID-19 after two weeks of two-dose administration.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, which requires just one dose, was found to be about 72 percent effective.
“At this point, anyone in the city of Detroit who is eligible who wants a vaccine can get one,” Duggan said. “The day may come in March or April when all Moderna and Pfizer are committed, and we still have people who need a vaccine. And that’s when we’ll set up a Johnson & Johnson center. ”
However, the mayor added that he does not see that scenario happen ‘in the coming weeks’.
Public health experts have repeatedly promoted the safety and efficacy of each of the FDA-approved vaccines and encouraged people to get the vaccine that is available to them.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Bob Wheaton said in a statement to CNN Friday that the 6,000-plus Johnson & Johnson doses not used by Detroit were “ provided to other health departments that had lower rates of coverage for people 65 or older. ”
According to Detroit’s COVID-19 dashboard, more than 101,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines have been delivered in the city to date, with more than 55,000 future doses already planned.