Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC on Tuesday that she believes the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation that states suspend the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single Covid vaccine is likely to have a lasting impact on the country’s efforts to stem the pandemic. combat.
“It’s a devastating blow to this J&J vaccine effort in the United States,” Patel, a primary care physician in Washington, DC, said in an interview on Squawk Box. She has also worked on health initiatives in the Obama administration, while serving as director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Involvement.
Patel said the supply of the two-vaccine vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna could not quickly replenish the demand created by the J&J break. That would slow down U.S. vaccination efforts, she added.
The FDA recommendation, issued earlier Tuesday, came after six people in the U.S. developed rare and serious blood clotting problems after receiving the J&J vaccine.
In a tweet, the U.S. regulator said action is being taken out of an abundance of caution.
All six cases occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms developing six to 13 days after receiving the shot.
From now on, J&J said there is ‘no clear causal link’ between these rare events and the vaccine. The American drug giant also said it is working with regulators.
While she expects Moderna and Pfizer to eventually be able to take up some of that slack, Patel stressed that it will take some time for the other vaccine manufacturers to have additional doses available in the US.
A particular challenge in stopping the administration of J & J’s vaccine is that it requires only one shot, Patel said, while Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines require two doses for complete immunity protection.
“In the next one to three weeks, we just can not replace it,” said Patel, a medical contributor to NBC News and non-residents at the Brookings Institution. “It will slow down our vaccination efforts.”
Patel suggests that the US would consider pushing back the administration of second doses to recipients of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci opposed requests to do so at earlier points in the pandemic.
The second dose of Moderna should be given four weeks after the first dose, while it is three weeks apart for Pfizer.
“You are going to hear a renewal for calls to postpone the second shot so that we can get as many first shots in the arms as possible. It is not an unreasonable thing to do, to consider it now,” he said. Patel said.
“If we push out the second doses of Moderna or Pfizer for a week or two, it can still help us catch up a little faster,” she added.