Dem Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii responded to today’s announcement from the CDC and FDA that they’re pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after 6 women experienced clotting issues within two weeks of taking it:
“I respect the independence of the FDA and their need to evaluate risk. But 6 out of 6.8 million is not a lot, and if they are going to land on “we reviewed the data and everything is fine,” they need to be clear and quick and unequivocal.”
I respect the independence of the FDA and their need to evaluate risk. But 6 out of 6.8 million is not a lot, and if they are going to land on “we reviewed the data and everything is fine,” they need to be clear and quick and unequivocal.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) April 13, 2021
What happened to trust the experts?
You must trust the experts
You must trust the science https://t.co/HoWg6iu1Mv
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) April 13, 2021
It’s only bad when Trump does it, however:
My one comment:
We all learned with President Trump and the convalescent plasma debacle that politicians intervening with FDA is the worst thing that could possibly happen for drug rollouts and institutional trust.
FDA needs to be left independent with this, too (⬇️ ain’t it). https://t.co/sML6zT71dp
— ?????? ??????? (@G17Esiason) April 13, 2021
And it’s not 6 out of 6.8 million, by the way. It’s 6 out of the number of women in that age group which is a lot fewer than 6.8 million people:
It’s not 6 out of 6.8M. How many of those vaccines actually went to women between the ages of 18 and 50? Maybe 200K (or less). So the rate is much higher than the one in a million for that group.
— Gregg Smith (@GreggSmith03) April 13, 2021
And even if the CDC and FDA do re-clear the vaccine, it’s going to be REALLY hard to overcome the damage from this:
Correct. The damage being done now is serious and will be hard to reverse. https://t.co/4AlZbLv9Tp
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) April 13, 2021
***
Related:
New York Times: The FDA and CDC will 'call for an immediate pause in use of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine' https://t.co/uRVdj9rfFi
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 13, 2021
