Will Pause Of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Delay Vaccinations?

The pause on the distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine will not delay the Biden administration’s national vaccination effort, the White House said in a statement Tuesday.

“This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan: Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5 percent of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said in a statement.

Zients said that the administration has secured enough doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to fully inoculate 300 million Americans.

“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,” he added.

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, echoed Zients' statement and said the pause will not affect President Joe Biden’s goal of getting the country some semblance of normalcy by July.

“I think this is going to be a blip on the calendar in terms of getting Americans vaccinated,” Dr. Ashish Jha told CNBC. “I don’t think it’s going to affect the timeline at all.”

J&J injections across the nation came to a halt Tuesday after the CDC and FDA called for a pause as they reviewed the six cases of a rare blood-clotting disorder among recipients.

All six of the cases involved women between ages of 18 and 48 who developed the disorder within one to three weeks of receiving the J&J shot. A Virginia woman has died from the disorder, while a Nebraska resident is currently in critical condition.

“As of 4/12, 6.8m+ doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S. CDC & FDA are reviewing data involving 6 reported U.S. cases of a rare & severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare,” the CDC wrote in a statement.

It is unclear how long the pause on the J&J vaccine distribution will last.