April 18, 2021

Fauci Says He Expects J&J Pause to End Soon

Susan Walsh/CNP/ZUMA

The coronavirus is a rapidly developing news story, so some of the content in this article might be out of date. Check out our most recent coverage of the coronavirus crisis, and subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

In a series of Sunday show interviews, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expects the pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to end when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent vaccine advisory committee meets on Friday to discuss the issue.

“I would be very surprised if we don’t have a resumption in some form by Friday,” Fauci said. “I don’t really anticipate that they’re going to want it stretch it out a bit longer.” 

On Tuesday, the CDC and Food and Drug Administration recommended that states temporarily stop using the J&J vaccine following reports that six women who had received the vaccine developed a rare blood clot. Potential complications from the vaccine, which is highly effective at protecting people from COVID-19, have been extremely rare. More than seven million Americans have received the J&J vaccine, and only one person is known to have died of a blood clot that may have been linked to it. Public health officials said this week that the pause was made “out of an abundance of caution.”

Fauci defended the initial pause, saying that it was important “to make sure that you have all the information that you need.” He explained that the pause provided additional time to study potential complications and inform physicians about how to treat them.

The CDC committee, not Fauci, who serves as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, will decide whether to recommend resuming use of the J&J vaccine. In an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Fauci stressed that he didn’t want to get ahead of the CDC and Food and Drug Administration. But he did say, “I would imagine that what we will say is: that it would come back and it would come back in some sort of either warning or restriction.” On NBC’s Meet the Press, Facui told Chuck Todd that there would would probably be guidelines recommending caution about using the vaccine under soon to be specified circumstances. 

“My estimate is that we will continue to use it in some form,” he said. “I doubt very seriously if they just cancel it. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate