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Top U.S. infectious disease doctor hopes U.S. regulators will make a quick decision to lift a pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and get it “back on track.”
Anthony Fauci comments come a day after a panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delayed a vote on whether to resume the J&J shots for at least a week, until it had more data on the risk.
The United States earlier this week decided to pause distribution of the J&J vaccine to investigate six cases of a rare brain blood clot linked with low platelet counts in the blood.
Fauci says the pause is “an indication that the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration take safety very seriously.
“The concern is that the longer you draw it out, the more there will be concern about not only that vaccine but it might even have an impact on vaccine hesitancy in general. I think we’ve just got to continue to emphasize that this is a very efficacious vaccine and could be used, and be very, very valuable on the global scene.”
Fauci, says he is worried about the effects of a prolonged delay.
