“As I understand it, our team contacted the mayor, there was a little misunderstanding,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during Friday’s briefing, adding that she thought “he would go out and speak publicly. “
“So Johnson & Johnson is a very good vaccine. Modern and Pfizer are the best. And I will do everything I can to ensure that Detroit city residents receive the best,” Duggan told a news conference on Thursday.
The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine is highly effective against serious illnesses and, in a clinical trial, there were no deaths among those who received the vaccine. The previously authorized two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccine trials showed higher efficacy rates, but occurred at different locations and in the beginning of the pandemic, when fewer variants of the coronavirus were spreading.
Biden administration officials fear that the J&J vaccine may be perceived to be of inferior quality to other vaccines, and US health officials have repeatedly emphasized that people should get any available vaccine, if they are eligible.
But during a briefing on Friday, the White House claimed that Duggan did not mean to say that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are better than Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
“It is important to clarify that this was not the mayor’s intention and neither the mayor’s comments,” senior White House aide to Covid-19 Andy Slavitt said in response to a question by CNN’s Arlette Saenz.
Slavitt said Duggan is “very anxious about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine” and reiterated the White House’s position that Americans should get the first vaccine they get the chance to get.
Pressed again on Duggan’s comments, Slavitt said: “The mayor’s office indicated, after we talked to them, that there was a misunderstanding, that was not the intention of those comments.”
Duggan issued a statement of his own on Friday, expressing “full confidence” in the vaccine and announcing that his city will open a vaccination post offering Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
“I have full confidence that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe and effective. We are now making plans for Johnson & Johnson to be an important part of our expansion of vaccine centers and look forward to receiving Johnson & Johnson vaccines in the future. next allocation, “Duggan said in the statement.
Earlier on Friday, John Roach, Duggan’s director of media relations, told CNN that when Detroit’s vaccine eligibility expands to the point that demand at the city’s drive-thru max vaccination site exceeds supply from Moderna / Pfizer, the city will open a second site that will offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Detroit residents currently qualified to receive a Covid-19 vaccine “can call today, make an appointment and receive a Modern / Pfizer vaccine next week at the TCF center,” said Roach.
Duggan visited the White House last month and was invited to the daily briefing to discuss his city’s recovery.
CNN’s Ganesh Setty contributed to this report.