Hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommended a break from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to side effects in six women, Dr. Anthony Fauci spoke to CBS Evening News about what it means. decision.
The interview below was edited for length and clarity.
CBS News: People who just got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are worried. What should they take care of?
Dr. Anthony Fauci: Well, it depends on when they received it. It seems that this adverse event occurs between six days and 13 days. So if you had it a month or two ago, I don’t think you really have to worry about anything. If you are within a week or two of being vaccinated, remember one thing: this is a very rare event. It’s less than one in a million. That being said, you still want to pay attention to some symptoms, such as severe headaches, some difficulty moving or some chest discomfort, and difficulty breathing.
These are women of childbearing age. Does this suggest that it could be hormonal?
Absolutely and this is one of the things we want to investigate. There were similar types of phenomena that occurred during pregnancy. Coagulation abnormalities are known in women taking birth control pills, so there could certainly be a hormonal aspect in this regard.
Do you think birth control could play a role?
We don’t know that. And this is one of the questions that will be asked about these people, was there a community of people taking birth control pills? We don’t know the answer to that right now.
You pointed out that there is less than one in a million chance of having this. It is very, very rare. But will this fuel vaccine hesitate?
Well, that’s definitely a concern. Does the question that is often asked have anything to do with the other vaccines, mRNA, from Moderna and Pfizer? You know, absolutely not. Because you look at it, 121 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine. Only 6.85 million of them were J&J. The rest were Moderna and Pfizer and there is no negative or adverse signal or red signal coming from any of these vaccines, which is very good news. In other words, they are very safe.