Fauci believes Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will soon be back in action
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that he does not believe the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson will be taken out of circulation altogether, but that, either way, its fate should be settled by Friday.
The one-shot vaccine was granted an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, but the agency last week recommended a temporary pause on administering the vaccine because of a possible causal link to a handful of rare, potentially fatal, blood clots.
Fauci made the network rounds on Sunday, predicting that the vaccine will be back in action before too long. He told NBC News' Chuck Todd, for instance, that he doubts "very seriously" the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee will simply cancel the vaccine. But he did acknowledge that if the shot gets another green light, warnings or restrictions may be attached this time. Not wanting to get ahead of himself, Fauci refrained from speculating too deeply about what the new labels may be.
On the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause, Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @MarthaRaddatz: "We'll know by Friday where we're going with this." https://t.co/dU120vpKgd pic.twitter.com/TQ0dR423Yg
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 18, 2021
J&J LATEST: Dr. Anthony Fauci says he expects a decision on whether to resume distribution of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine by Friday: "One of the possibilities would be to bring them back, but to do it with some form of restriction or some form of warning." pic.twitter.com/VyIt9upS0B
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 18, 2021