President Biden’s chief medical adviser said he expected the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to return to the United States by Friday after a break due to concerns about blood clots in several patients.
“I would be very surprised … if we don’t resume in some form by Friday,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS’s “Make the Nation,” echoing remarks made on other networks on Sunday.
U.S. health officials on Tuesday recommended suspending the use of the single dose administered by J&J as a precaution while investigating the reports of the six women who received the vaccine and subsequently developed severe blood clots. The women were between 18 and 48 years old. One died.
More than 7.2 million doses of J&J vaccine have been administered in the United States; about 1.5 million of these doses were for women between the ages of 18 and 50.
J&J said Friday that there was not enough evidence to establish that the company’s Covid-19 vaccine was causing the rare blood clotting that prompted U.S. health officials to recommend a break in its use this week.