Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause is just a pause – not a cancellation – and he doubts it will take weeks to months.
On Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that the US discontinue use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine in six reported cases or “a rare and serious type of blood clot” reported in the US.
Fauci said of CNN’s New Day program on Wednesday, “There is a twofold reason: one for an abundance of caution on safety, take a quick look, get more details, but also a warning to the doctors out there that if you see, don’t treat them with heparin in these cases. There are other treatment methods that can be used. “
The pause should “underline and affirm in his mind how seriously we take safety, even if it is a very rare event.”
Fauci told CNN he had no reason to believe there were many more cases, but that the break is there to see if there are any other cases.
“If anyone has any doubts that they may not take safety very seriously, I think this is confirmation that safety is a primary consideration when it comes to the FDA and the CDC,” he said. “That’s why it’s done and that’s why it’s a pause.”
It’s not a cancellation, it’s a pause, ”Fauci stressed.
After speaking with the CDC and the FDA, Fauci said he thinks it “will very likely take more days to weeks than weeks to months. I seriously doubt whether we are talking weeks or months. ”
On the larger issue of hesitation in vaccines, Fauci said that while the wait-and-see attitude is “understandable,” there is plenty of data in favor of vaccines.
“More than 120 million – nearly 130 million people have already received at least one dose of it. That’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 have waited enough. Let’s do it, ”he said.
And as more people are vaccinated, Fauci also said the number of deaths from the virus will continue to decline – even though cases may increase.
“The most vulnerable are protected as far as relative proportions are concerned,” he said. “As we get more and more people – 3 million to 4 million people a day getting vaccinated – the vaccine component of this will get stronger, and then you will see the cases decrease.”
Listen to the interview with Dr. Fauci on CNN: