“As I understand it, our team had contact with the mayor, there was a bit of a misunderstanding,” Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said during the briefing on Friday, adding that she thought he was going to go out and talk. in public. ‘
“So, Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine. Modern and Pfizer are the best. And I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure the people of the city of Detroit get the best,” Duggan said Thursday during a news conference said. .
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is very effective against serious diseases and in a clinical trial there were no deaths among people who had the vaccine. Trials of the previously authorized dual-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have shown higher efficacy, but occurred at different sites and earlier in the pandemic when fewer coronavirus variants spread.
Biden administration officials were concerned that the J&J vaccine would be considered lower quality than the other vaccines, and U.S. health officials have repeatedly stressed that people should take the vaccine if they are eligible.
But during a Friday briefing, the White House claimed that Duggan did not intend to say that the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were better than those from Johnson & Johnson.
“It’s important to explain that this was not the mayor’s intention, and that it was not the mayor’s comments,” Andy Slavitt, senior White House adviser, told Covid-19 in response to a question from CNN’s Arlette Saenz.
Slavitt claims that Duggan is ‘very keen on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’, reiterating the White House’s position that Americans should take the first vaccine they are given the chance to take.
Slavitt reprimanded Duggan’s remarks, saying: ‘The mayor’s office, after talking to them, indicated that there was a misunderstanding, and that this was not the intention of the remarks.’
Duggan issued a statement of his own Friday in which he expressed “full confidence” in the vaccine and announced that his city will open a vaccination site offering Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
“I have full confidence that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe and effective. We now plan for Johnson & Johnson to be an important part of our expansion of vaccination centers and look forward to Johnson & Johnson vaccines in the coming period award, ”Duggan said in the statement.
Earlier Friday, Duggan’s director of media relations, John Roach, told CNN that when vaccine admissions in Detroit increased to the point where demand on the city’s drive-to-maximum vaccination site exceeded Moderna / Pfizer’s supply, the city will open a second site offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Detroiters currently eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine “can call today, make an appointment and receive a Moderna / Pfizer vaccine at the TCF Center next week,” Roach said.
Duggan visited the White House last month and was a guest during the daily briefing to discuss his city’s recovery.
CNN’s Ganesh Setty contributed to this report.