- Detroit Mayor said no to an initial Johnson & Johnson vaccine shipment, CNBC reported.
- He reportedly said Detroit had a sufficient supply and would introduce the single-dose vaccine later.
- 11.3% of Detroit’s population is currently vaccinated against COVID-19.
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Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference on Thursday that he would not accept a first-time shipment of Johnson & Johnson’s single-injection coronavirus vaccine, CNBC reported on Friday.
Duggan cited concerns about the vaccine’s effectiveness. The vaccine, according to Insider reports, has proven to be 66% effective in preventing coronavirus in general, and Johnson & Johnson data show a 100% prevention rate of hospitalizations for the virus.
The FDA approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for “emergency use” by Americans over the age of 18 on February 27.
“Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine,” Duggan told the media, including CNBC, on Thursday. “Moderna and Pfizer are the best. And I will do everything I can to ensure that Detroit city residents have the best.”
On Friday, Andy Slavitt, a coronavirus consultant at the White House, told the press that Duggan’s comments were misinterpreted, according to reports in the US News and World Report.
Duggan also reportedly said that Detroit had sufficient supply of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to inoculate all eligible in the city. He told the city council in a statement released on CNBC that “as the vaccine’s eligibility expands, Detroit will open a second website offering Johnson & Johnson vaccines.”
According to the Detroit coronavirus screening panel, 11.3% of the city’s population is vaccinated.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider. Politician reporter Adam Cancryn tweeted a statement from Duggan’s office saying the city is making plans to distribute the overturned Johnson & Johnson, but not addressing the refusal reported by the mayor directly.
—Adam Cancryn (@adamcancryn) March 5, 2021
Insider published an analysis on Monday saying that, with its single-dose formulation, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be a better alternative than the Moderna and Pfizer two-dose vaccines for young, healthy people. Since the injection works after a single consultation, collective immunity is closer.