Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies in the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis on the Capitol Hill in Washington, April 15, 2021.
Susan Walsh | Swimming pool | Reuters
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said on Sunday that he believes the US is likely to resume use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine with a warning or restriction.
Health regulators Tuesday asked states to temporarily suspend J & J’s single-dose injection after reports of six cases of rare brain blood clots in women from approximately 7 million people who received the vaccine in the U.S.
The cases occurred in women 18 to 48 years old who developed symptoms six to 13 days after receiving the injection. The Food and Drug Administration said the recommendation to pause the vaccine was “out of an abundance of caution.”
Fauci said he expects a decision on the J&J vaccine as early as Friday, when the vaccine advisory panel of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meets to discuss the resumption.
“I estimate we will continue to use it in some form or another,” Fauci said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” ‘I seriously doubt they will just cancel it. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I do think there will probably be some kind of warning or limitation or risk assessment. ‘
“I don’t think it will just go back and say, ‘Okay, everything’s okay. Go back right away.’ I think it will probably say, ‘Okay, we’re going to use it, but be careful under these circumstances,’ Fauci continued.
About 5% of the vaccine supply in the US has been sidelined because of the pause on J&J admission. It’s unclear how the pause will affect the company’s goal of delivering 100 million doses nationwide by the end of May.
White House Tsar Covid Jeff Zients has said the shutdown would not have a significant impact on the US vaccination program, which distributes enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current rate of about 3 million injections per day.
The country has an average of 3.3 million daily vaccine doses administered in the past week, and 3 million when only Pfizer and Moderna are included. According to data from the CDC, only about 7.8 million of the total of 202 million recordings in the US are from J&J.
“You don’t want to be up front and decide you know the full spectrum of this, which is one of the reasons they took a break and why we will hopefully know by Friday,” Fauci said during an interview on CBS ‘”Face the Nation.”
CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to the reporting