Trump Seeks to Politicize the Decision of Pausing J&J Vaccine
On Tuesday, the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, tried to politicize the decision of the United States health agencies to recommend pausing Johnson & Johnson coronavirus rollout. Trump slammed U.S. President Donald Trump for taking the pause decision and called it terrible damage. He also floats a conspiracy theory by giving any evidence that the administration took the halt decision of the J&J vaccine to benefit Pfizer and its coronavirus vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Food & Drug Administration released a joint statement on Tuesday to recommend all U.S. states halt rolling out J&J’s coronavirus vaccine until health agencies analyze reports of blood clotting in some patients. Moreover, acting FDA chief Dr. Janet Woodcock said on Tuesday that the health authorities reported six cases of blood clots out of over 6.8 million doses administered, and Woodcock said that they only expect the halt to last for some days.
As of 4/12, 6.8m+ doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S. CDC & FDA are reviewing data involving 6 reported U.S. cases of a rare & severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare
Donald Trump’s Statement to Criticize Biden’s Decision of Halting J&J’s Vaccine
Trump released a statement on Instagram some hours after the agencies announced their suggestion to pause Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and said that the decision means the reputation of the J&J vaccine would challenge permanently. Moreover, the former president blamed the Biden administration directly for the happening.
The former president claims that the U.S. health agencies pause the J&J vaccine for political reasons or maybe FDA’s love for Pfizer, which refers to a different groundless Donald Trump conspiracy. Furthermore, continuing to push his wild conspiracy theory, Trump claimed that bureaucrats within the FDA controlled it for a long time. The health agencies granted emergency use of both Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines in December 2020, when Trump was still in office. Whereas the Johnson & Johnson vaccine approved for emergency use in February after the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Background of Trump Conspiracy Theory
It is not the first time Donald Trump floated a conspiracy theory about the FDA and Pfizer. In November, some days after the presidential election, the former president lashed out at the deep medical state of FDA, suggesting the agency intentionally delayed releasing optimistic news about the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine until after the election. Furthermore, Trump said that the Democrats and the FDA did not want to get a vaccine to win before the election; therefore, it came out five days later.
Trump Seeks to Politicize the Decision of Pausing J&J Vaccine Source: Web
Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House COVID-19 vaccine, said on Tuesday that the J&J vaccine pause would have a minor impact on the vaccination plan of the United States. Until now, the J&J vaccine makes below five percent of vaccine shots in arms of the residents of America. Before the J&J received emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine, Joe Biden expressed hope for the addition of the vaccine to the country’s growing supply of coronavirus vaccines.
Biden said at a CNN town hall in February that it has a high probability that the COVID-19 vaccinations that are available today and the upcoming J&J will prove to be useful. Whereas the New York Times reported in October that the Trump government blocked new vaccine guidelines from the FDA, which stated volunteers in clinical trials should be observed for minor and severe side effects for a median of two months after the final vaccine dose.
