The risk of developing blood clots from Covid-19 is greater than the apparent likelihood that it will develop from Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, said Dr. Purvi Parikh told CNBC on Tuesday.
Parikh, an allergist and immunologist in New York, worked as a researcher for other Covid vaccine trials, including Pfizer.
Parikh dismissed Tuesday’s FDA recommendation to suspend the use of J & J’s one-shot vaccine through the prism, saying the temporary strike indicates regulators’ “safety checks and balances are working.”
“For now, I will be wary of any of these conspiracy theories and again with the panic,” said Parikh, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
“You are much more likely to clot from the actual Covid-19 virus, which is about 1 in 20 people admitted to the hospital or even 1 in 100 recovering at home. It is much more likely,” she added in “Squawk on the Street”. with reference to data from the industry group Thrombosis Canada.
Parikh’s comments come hours after the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state called for a temporary halt to J & J’s vaccine after six women in the US developed a rare but serious blood clotting disorder. One of the recipients is dead and another in critical condition.
Nearly 7 million people received the J&J survey. There are no other known cases besides the six reported by federal health regulators. The J&J vaccine uses an adenovirus delivery system. An adenovirus is a common type of virus that usually causes mild colds.
Asked if J & J’s vaccine could still be given to Americans while investigating the six known cases of blood clots, Parikh said it was best to stop it for now.
“They are not revoking the authorization for emergency use. They are not saying it is a bad vaccine. Breaks are completely normal,” she explained. “If we vaccinate more people, millions to tens of thousands in the clinical trials, these breaks will take place. I think this is the right step, and that way we know for sure that it is safe to continue.”
However, Parikh said the benefits still outweigh the risks of this vaccination if we look at an “overall picture” based on the available information.
White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci told reporters on Tuesday that there were no “red flag signals” from the two-vaccine vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna. The two vaccinations, the only others cleared for emergency use in the U.S., use a new approach to vaccines that use genetic material to elicit an immune response.