Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a White House press briefing at the James Brady White House Press Room, January 21, 2021, in Washington, DC.
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White House chief medical officer Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday he would take the recently approved Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine and urged Americans to take any available shot when they are eligible.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the J&J vaccine on Saturday, giving the United States a third tool to fight the pandemic following vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. The company expects to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March.
“All three are really pretty good, and people should take the one that’s best available to them,” Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“If you go somewhere and you have J&J and this is the one that’s available now, I’d take it,” Fauci said. “I personally would do the same. I think people need to be vaccinated as soon and as quickly as possible.”
The J&J vaccine is different from the others because it is a single dose regimen and does not require patients to return for the second dose. It can be stored at refrigerator temperature for months. The image showed an overall efficiency of 66%, 72% in the USA and 57% in South Africa, which experienced a rapid spread of variant B.1.351.
Although Pfizer and Moderna vaccines had higher efficacy rates in two-dose studies than the J&J single-dose vaccine, Fauci insisted that the J&J vaccine is not a weaker vaccine and said the study data should not be compared. for the three photos, because they were tested at different times.
“Now you have three extremely effective vaccines, for sure,” Fauci said. “There’s no doubt about that.”
While the country sees a decline in new coronavirus cases and an improvement in the vaccination rate, Fauci warned states not to prematurely loosen pandemic restrictions, a move that could lead to a further rise in infections.
Cases have dropped from 300,000 a day to about 70,000, a baseline that is still too high, Fauci said.
“We don’t want to keep people from doing what they want to do. But let’s get to a good level,” Fauci told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Let’s vaccinate many, many more people. And then you could withdraw from those kinds of public health measures.”
“But right now, as we go down, and the plateau is not the time to declare victory, because we are not yet victorious,” he said.