On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said the United States will decide whether to end the pause in Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccination on Friday.
A panel of experts convened by the CDC has been assessing the J&J vaccine’s possible association with a blood clotting disorder that has been seen in six relatively young women, with none of them having a previous history of clotting disorders.
Meanwhile, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said last week it expected to rule on the safety of the Johnson & Johnson’s shot on Tuesday after evaluating data on blood clotting, according to Medical Xpress.
In an interview on ABC’s This Week, Dr. Fauci said, “We should have an answer as to where we’re going with it. I would think that we’re not going to go beyond Friday in the extension of this pause.”
Dr. Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said he did not want to get ahead of the CDC panel, but he noted that the blood clotting disorder was “an extraordinarily rare event.”
“I believe we’ll get back with it,” he added.
Health officials have so far reported six cases of women developing rare brain clots along with a reduction in blood platelet counts, including one death. The women developed this rare condition within two weeks of receiving one dose of the J&J vaccine.
Overall, more than 7.2 million Americans have received the J8J vaccine.
Some experts opposed the pause, but others expressed their concerns over the safety of the vaccine, needing further study was necessary.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has said that the symptoms experienced by the six women suffering from blood clot disorders were consistent with side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine seen in Europe, according to Medical Xpress.
However, the rare blood clot disorder has not been associated with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
The US has become a world leader in vaccinations, but Dr. Fauci said the nation remained in a “precarious position,” with too many people ignoring health precautions.
He said, “We’re having a seven-day average of over 60,000 new infections per day. That’s a place you don’t want to be.” However, Dr. Fauci warned, “We also have to make sure that people don’t throw caution to the wind and declare victory prematurely. That’s not the time to do that.”
