About one in five Americans say they will never get a COVID-19 vaccine if they can avoid it, according to a new poll taken before the United States suspended Johnson & Johnson vaccinations due to an extremely rare problem with blood clots, threatens to put back America’s vaccination campaign.
The FDA and CDC have said they are investigating the potentially dangerous blood clots, which occurred in just six women out of the nearly 7 million doses of Johnson & Johson vaccine. One woman is dead.
Despite what appears to be an extremely rare risk, the break could threaten Americans ‘confidence in vaccines, as Europeans’ confidence declined following problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine last month.
The temporary halt in the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford, has caused vaccine confidence in Italy, Spain, Germany, France and other European Union countries to fall, according to a YouGov poll.
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Dr Anthony Fauci said the problems with blood clotting around the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are similar.
“There are some strong similarities in this regard to the time frame after vaccination, especially the clinical syndrome of these blood clots, as well as low platelets, and there are many similarities that you can not miss,” Dr. Fauci told NBC Wednesday.
The CDC calls the blood clotting problems “extremely rare” and the acting FDA commissioner expects the break to last only a few days, as agencies review the vaccine’s safety.
Johnson & Johnson said it was also temporarily halting the explosion of vaccines in Europe while reviewing the vaccines.
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The break is unlikely to help convince the 21% of Americans now saying they will not receive a COVID-19 vaccine, which is a statistically insignificant three points from Monmouth University polls in January and March.
Just over half, 51%, of Americans say they have received at least one dose, and another 14% say they will receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it is available.
The break could also affect vaccination campaigns in Europe, Africa and other parts of the world. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown promise due to its one-shot regimen and ease of transport.
Although the break may discourage some Americans from getting the vaccine, Biden’s government has said it hopes it will have the opposite effect.
Jeff Zients, coordinator of the Coronavirus in the White House, said the interruption “should reassure the American public that they will be very diligent and conservative about how they approach the vaccines.”
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President Biden said Tuesday that America already has enough doses for every American without the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“My message to the American people about the vaccine is: I told you all. I made sure we had 600 million doses [Pfizer and Moderna], “the president told reporters Tuesday.” So there is enough vaccine, which is basically 100% undeniable for every single American. “
The Associated Press contributed to this report.