Re: “US recommends ‘pause’ for J&J shots in blow to vaccine drive” [April 13, Nation]. The occurrence of rare blots clots among a small number of J&J vaccine recipients may decrease public trust in this vaccine and further hinder vaccination efforts once the J&J vaccine is able to be administered again.
Considering that COVID-19 cases are now on the rise again, getting people vaccinated is more important than ever toward returning to relative normalcy.
In addition, pausing the administration of the J&J vaccine deals a great blow to current vaccination efforts given that the J&J vaccine is much more accessible since it requires only one dose and is much easier to store compared to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. As such, I believe it is important to stress that getting vaccinated with J&J vaccine still greatly outweighs any potential negative effects, especially considering that only six of the 6.8 million J&J vaccine recipients experienced this with no clear association.
Vivian Ma, Clyde Hill