Biden says pause on J&J shots shows govt putting safety 1st

Washington DC: President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccination campaign hit a snag when federal regulators recommended a pause in administering Johnson & Johnson shots.

But the White House portrayed the action as an important validation of his measured approach throughout the rollout.

Biden declared Tuesday that even with a temporary loss of J&J's one-shot vaccine, there is a huge supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, enough that "is basically 100 per cent unquestionable, for every single, solitary American.

Perhaps more concerning than any worry about supply, however, is the potential blow to public confidence in all of the vaccines, as polls suggest potentially tens of millions of Americans are hesitant to get the shots that public health experts say are necessary for the nation to emerge from the pandemic.

The pause actually should have the opposite effect, boosting confidence that the government is putting safety first, Biden and top health officials said at a White House briefing.

The advisory by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention citing a need to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots was testimony to how seriously we take safety," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious

disease expert.