Experts are torn on whether the J&J pause will increase hesitancy among some people or give them more confidence in how federal regulators are overseeing the vaccination effort.
Dr. Amesh Adulja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said he worries the pause will have a lasting effect. “We have a lot of vaccine hesitancy that exists, and that is only going to be magnified.”
But to Dr. Kartik Cherabuddi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Florida health system, this is one hurdle in the long vaccination game. He predicts the overall effect from the pause will be minimal within a few weeks as regulators and health providers put the vaccine risks in perspective for the public. He said Americans are used to being told about the health risks of drugs, as they are bombarded with television drug advertising.
Meanwhile, UC-Irvine’s Watanabe said he hopes the pause will lead to more discussions with hesitant Americans about how they have several vaccine options. Watanabe said it was wise of the FDA to show “an abundance of caution” by pausing the use of the J&J vaccine now, particularly because there are two other vaccine options for Americans that can more than fill the gap.
Sourced by KHN (Kaiser Health News)