The White House has issued a statement to calm fears that the U.S. vaccine rollout will be slowed down after the announcement that the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine’s distribution would be paused.
What happened with the J&J vaccine?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said in a joint statement that the U.S. will stall the release of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of blood clots.
- The FDA said the blood clot have been reported in women 18 to 48 years old.
- According to the FDA, the blood clots happened about eight to 13 days after vaccination, USA Today reports.
- In total, there were six reported cases out of 6.8 million total administered doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the FDA.
White House reacts to the pause
Jeff Zients, White House COVID-19 response coordinator, released a statement that said the pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccine won’t impact the overall U.S. rollout too much.
- “Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5% of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date. Based on actions taken by the president earlier this year, the United States has secured enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans,” he said.
Zients said the U.S. has made 25 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available. He said plenty of vaccines are available to meet the White House goal for the vaccine rollout.
- “This is more than enough supply to continue the current pace of vaccinations of 3 million shots per day, and meet the president’s goal of 200 million shots by his 100th day in office — and continue on to reach every adult who wants to be vaccinated. We are working now with our state and federal partners to get anyone scheduled for a J&J vaccine quickly rescheduled for a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.”