WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign took a hit on Tuesday when federal regulators recommended a “break” in the administration of Johnson & Johnson shots. But the White House portrayed the action as an important confirmation of its moderate approach during the deployment.
Biden stated that even with a temporary loss of J & J’s one-shot vaccine, there is a large amount of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, enough that “is basically 100% undeniable for every single American.”
Perhaps this is more worrying than any concern about the supply, but it is the possible blow to public confidence in all the vaccines, as polls indicate that tens of thousands of millions of Americans are reluctant to get the shots needed by public health experts. is for the country. coming out of the pandemic.
The interruption should actually have had the opposite effect, which would boost confidence that the government puts safety first, Biden and top health officials said at an information session in the White House. The advice of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention A testament to how seriously we take safety, “said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases.
In the first months of his presidency, Biden placed the highest priority on a strong response to the virus that killed 559,000 Americans, with a vaccination campaign in which nearly 50% of adults received at least one shot.
His performance was generally highly regarded, and the reluctance to take the vaccine gradually diminished as vaccination increased. With three vaccines being used in the US and a lot of stock in the offing, Biden has actually received criticism for not sharing more vaccines with other countries. The president said the action on Tuesday proved the wisdom of his approach.
“My message to the American people about the vaccine is, I told you all,” Biden told reporters after the announcement, adding that he “made sure we had 600 million doses” just from Pfizer and Moderna in the pipeline .
The Johnson & Johnson outage, which regulators hope to resolve within days, comes on the heels of production issues at the Baltimore plant that manufactures the J&J vaccine.
The White House, which only took about 12 hours to note that some sort of announcement was coming and had no prior warning about the content of the FDA’s and CDC’s actions, moved quickly to limit concerns about its impact. Caregivers acknowledged that they had to propose the decision as ensuring the “gold standard” of safety, to prevent the vaccine from hesitating.
“I think this is a very strong argument for safety,” Fauci said.
Jeff Zients, coordinator of the Coronavirus in the White House, added that the break by the agencies “should reassure the American public that they will be very diligent and conservative about how they approach the vaccines.”
They argued that the pause proves the caution of Biden’s cautious approach to promises regarding the supply and delivery of vaccines, as well as his government’s unwillingness to make commitments to share excess vaccine with the world due to concerns about possible setbacks such as these.
“They are clearly trying to reassure people that there will be supply, and it will be safe,” said former White House Director of Communication Jennifer Palmieri. “You do not want that to happen, but in terms of what your instruments are, they have used their best – the president, the most senior credible person and the best experts – to do so.”
Due to supply problems, the J&J shot reflects only a small fraction of the doses administered, although it was one of the most promising vaccines as it was easily administered and distributed. Zients said the U.S. still expects to take enough doses of the other two approved vaccines for every adult American to get their shots by the end of May. Moderna and Pfizer are delivering 28 million doses to the federal government this week – enough to even exceed the current rate of 3 million a day.
Zients acknowledged that some states may have been caught off guard by Tuesday’s announcement, but said it reflected the speed with which officials were moving to address the security issues. He added that this was evidence of Biden’s commitment to pursue science in response to the pandemic.
“We want the science agencies to lead with science,” Zients said, noting no one in the White House was involved in the decision to ask for the break. “There is no reason for us to be involved in any of the scientific decisions, we are not bringing anything to the table.”
The agencies said Tuesday they were investigating unusual blood clots that occurred in six women, of the more than 7.2 million adults who received the shot. One of the patients is dead and another one is admitted to the hospital in a serious condition.
Officials said the delay had just as much to do with educating doctors about the unique way the blood clots should be treated as their desire to study the extraordinarily rare side effect. The usual treatment, with the blood-thinning heparin, can lead to dangerous patient outcomes, they said.
Speaking in the White House, Fauci advised those who had recently received J&J shots to “not get an anxiety reaction, because remember it is less than one in a million.” He added: “Note:” Note the possible symptoms of the blood clot, including severe headache, abdominal or leg pain and shortness of breath.
Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, a physician for infectious diseases at the John Cochran VA Medical Center and the Health Council in St. Louis, said the J&J interruption could affect overall confidence in the vaccine, but transparency is critical to boosting trust in minority communities. lowest recording of the shots.
“Today was such a sign of strength and leadership and of better direction to rebuild trust in these communities,” she said of the Biden government’s straightforwardness on the issue. “They came to us as soon as this information was available to know what was at stake.”
“They trust the American public, and that gives these communities the reason to trust them,” she said.