Fauci says J&J vaccine pause won’t negatively impact hesitancy

Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that the pause in administering the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine won’t have a negative impact on vaccine hesitancy. 

Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” that the pause showed federal agencies were being thorough when it comes to safety of the vaccines.

“I think, in the long run, what we’re going to see, and we’ll probably see it soon, is that people will realize that we take safety very seriously,” Fauci told host George Stephanopoulos. “We’re out there trying to combat the degree of vaccine hesitancy that still is out there. And one of the real reasons why people have hesitancy is concern about the safety of the vaccine.”

White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on vaccine hesitancy following the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause: “I think in the long run what we’re going to see … is that people will realize that we take safety very seriously.” https://t.co/en2GjJfvSC pic.twitter.com/tt87usQMPm

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 25, 2021

Fauci was asked to respond to a notion by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) that if vaccines are highly effective, not everyone has to get one.

“We have a highly efficacious and effective vaccine that’s really very, very safe,” Fauci told Stephanopoulos. “That is the reason why you want everyone to get vaccinated, so I don’t understand the argument if I get vaccinated, George, and I’m protected that you, George, don’t have to get vaccinated. It doesn’t make any sense.” 

“The more people you get vaccinated, the more people you protect. And there is the issue, when you get a critical number of people vaccinated, you really have a blanket of protection over the entire community,” he added.