Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins University, has a message for older adults who have received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine: There is no reason to worry.
During a LeadingAge coronavirus update call Thursday, Sharfstein noted that the complications that led federal officials to pause the use of the J&J vaccine last week “haven’t been seen after several weeks post-vaccine, and to date, they haven’t been seen among older people.”
The White House’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, M.D., on Sunday predicted that U.S. health regulators will end the temporary pause on distributing the J&J vaccine as soon as Friday.
“My estimate is that we will continue to use it in some form. I doubt very seriously if they just cancel it,” Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I don’t think that’s going to happen. I do think that there will likely be some sort of warning or restriction or risk assessment.”
In other vaccine news, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said that people “likely” will need a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine within 12 months of becoming fully vaccinated. He added that it’s possible that people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually.
“A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed. And again, the variants will play a key role,” he told CNBC’s Bertha Coombs Thursday during an event with CVS Health.
