Gov. Baker sees ‘minimal impact’
While its ultimate duration remains unclear, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday defended the recommendation by federal regulators to pause all use of Johnson & Johnson vaccines and said he believes the decision will carry “minimal impact” on appointments in Massachusetts.
Baker, who for months has praised the J&J vaccine as a game-changer because of its single shot and simpler handling requirements, said the temporary halt could create “some logistical issues” but expressed confidence that the state’s vaccination campaign will not be significantly impacted.
In his first public appearance since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended halting administration of J&J shots while regulators review six cases of a severe blood clot reported among the 6.8 million recipients, Baker said the single-dose vaccines represent “a small portion of our supply.” He expects the larger streams of Pfizer and Moderna to continue to flow uninterrupted.
This week, he said, J&J shots accounted for about 3% of the state’s vaccine allocation. State data show that about 89% of the more than 1.8 million Massachusetts residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19 received either the Moderna or Pfizer options.
“The best thing thing for us to do at this point in time is follow the federal guidance, wait and see what comes from their review with respect to those six cases and any decisions they believe we or others should be making going forward, do the best we can to make sure we reschedule appointments for people that were sched
uled for J&J, and continue to pursue the program that we’ve got in place,” Baker said. “We’re basically on track with where we thought we were going to be back in December, despite some of the bumps along the way.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was convening a meeting of experts on Wednesday to review the cases and discuss next steps. None of the reported cases have been linked to Massachusetts.
Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said Tuesday that the pause should last “a matter of days,” but the timeframe is not certain and depends on how the review goes.
“In the immediate future, we’re expecting minimal disruptions to schedule new appointments,” Baker said. Any residents who had an appointment for a J&J vaccine already scheduled should reach out to their provider or the vaccination clinic for more information, Baker said.
Asked if switching J&J appointments to Moderna or Pfizer could slow down the vaccination campaign, Baker replied that “you’re talking really small numbers, relatively speaking.”
“We got 11,600 doses of J&J for the week we’re in now, and we got 380,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna,” he said. “There’s definitely some logistical issues there, but the truth of the matter is the bulk of our vaccination program from the beginning has been Pfizer and Moderna.”