WASHINGTON – Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that this weekend’s emergency approval of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine now gives the nation three “highly effective vaccines” on the market that provide significant protection against Covid-19, and asked Americans to take whatever is available to them when they become eligible.
In an interview with “Meet the Press”, Fauci said he would take any of the three approved vaccines – from Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson – because they all provide strong protection against serious coronavirus-related illnesses. As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci was vaccinated at the end of last year in the midst of an initial effort to inspire confidence in the launch of the vaccine.
“All three are really good and people should choose what is most available to them,” he said.
“If you go to a place and you have J&J, and this is what is available now, I would accept it. I would personally do the same thing. I think people need to be vaccinated as quickly and as quickly as possible ”.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on an emergency basis on Saturday, the day after its advisory panel recommended approval. The company expects to have 20 million doses available by March.
The new vaccine differs from the other two previously approved in that it is a single injection and does not require a second dose to be administered weeks later. Documents released by the FDA found that the injection is 86% effective in preventing serious illness in general – 72% effective in the US and 64% in South Africa, which has seen a new strain of the disease become prominent.
Although these efficacy rates are lower than those of Moderna and Pfizer injections, Fauci told Meet the Press that Americans should not try to compare injection efficacy numbers side by side because each injection was examined in one trial different between different circumstances. For example, public health officials have been more concerned in recent weeks about the increase in variants that may escape vaccines.
“It’s not the weakest vaccine, it’s three really good vaccines,” said Fauci of the Johnson & Johnson injection.
There have been more than 28.6 million coronavirus infections in America and more than 514,000 deaths attributed to the virus, according to an analysis by NBC News. The number of new daily cases has plummeted in recent weeks – the seven-day average of new daily cases is around 70,000, the lowest since October. And the country’s vaccination rate has also improved, with more than 68 million doses administered, according to NBC News.
Still, deaths are declining more slowly than new cases. And Fauci warned government officials that the decline in cases should not lead to a loosening of restrictions yet, as there are still a lot of viruses circulating in the country and he fears that backing down could lead to another increase.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” he said. “When you start to see a decline in the number of cases, if you prematurely lift the restrictions, we have some examples of recovery. Our baseline of daily infections now, although well below 300,000, more, per day, has dropped to about 70,000, the baseline is very high. ”
“We are going to keep our feet on the gas now because we are going in the right direction.”