The Daily Mail:
- CDC panel on Thursday recommended Pfizer and Moderna over J&J shots
- J&J jab has rare but serious side effects and appears to be less effective
- Until now, all three shots have been treated equally by US authorities
- CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must decide whether to accept panel’s advice
Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, U.S. health advisers recommended Thursday.
The strange clotting problem has caused nine confirmed deaths after J&J vaccinations – while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t come with that risk and also appear to be more effective, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
It’s an unusual move and the CDC‘s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, must decide whether to accept the panel’s advice.
Until now the U.S. has treated all three COVID-19 vaccines available to Americans as an equal choice, since large studies found they all offered strong protection and early supplies were limited.
J&J´s vaccine initially was welcomed as a single-dose option that could be especially important for hard-to-reach groups like homeless people who might not get the needed second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna options.
But the CDC´s advisers said Thursday that it was time to recognize a lot has changed since vaccines began rolling out a year ago.
More than 200 million Americans are considered fully vaccinated, including about 16 million who got the J&J shot.
More than 200 million Americans are fully vaccinated, about 16 million of them with the J&J vaccine.
The other two vaccines used in the U.S. – from Pfizer and Moderna – account for the vast majority of vaccine doses administered in the country.
The CDC experts say that the two mRNA vaccines do not have the same risk, and unlike in the spring when vaccine supplies were tight, Pfizer and Moderna shots now are plentiful in the U.S.
The J&J shot also shows signs of being much less effective against the Omicron variant, and a booster is recommended just two months after the dose, opposed to six months for Pfizer and Moderna.
