Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC on Tuesday that she believes the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation that states stop the use of Johnson & Johnson’s one-time Covid vaccine is likely to have a lasting impact on the country’s efforts to combat the pandemic.
“This is a devastating blow to this J&J vaccination effort in the United States,” said Patel, a primary care physician in Washington, DC, in an interview on “Squawk Box.” She also worked on health initiatives in the Obama administration while serving as a policy director for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement.
Patel said the supply of the two-shot vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna will not be able to meet the demand created by the J&J break anytime soon. This will slow down the US vaccination efforts, she added.
The FDA recommendation, released earlier Tuesday, came after six people in the US developed rare and serious blood clotting problems after receiving the J&J vaccine.
In a tweet, the US regulator said action was taken “out of an abundance of caution.”
All six cases occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms developing six to 13 days after receiving the injection.
As of now, J&J said there is “no clear causal relationship” between these rare events and the vaccine. The US drug giant also said it works with regulators.
While it expects that Moderna and Pfizer will eventually be able to “catch some of that slack,” Patel stressed that “it will take some time” for those other vaccine manufacturers to have additional doses available in the US.
One particular challenge in stopping the administration of the J&J vaccine is that it requires only a single injection, Patel said, while the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines require two doses for complete immunity protection.
“In the next one to three weeks, we just can’t replace it,” said Patel, an NBC News medical officer and non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. “This will slow down our vaccination efforts.”
To compensate, the US could consider delaying the administration of second doses for recipients of Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines, Patel suggested.
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has opposed calls to do so at earlier times during the pandemic.
The second dose of Moderna should be given four weeks after the first, while for Pfizer it is three weeks apart.
You’ll hear an extension for calls to delay that second shot so we can get as many first shots in the arms as possible. It’s not unreasonable to consider now, ”said Patel.
“Taking the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer out for a week or two can still help us get some of that slack at a faster pace,” she added.