Fauci: ‘I would have the vaccine available to me as soon as possible

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His comments come after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday approved Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, adding a third vaccine option to Americans.

“Here are three very effective vaccines. I can tell you that I have been vaccinated with one that was available. It was the Moderna,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State “If I wasn’t getting the vaccine now and I had the choice of getting the J&J vaccine now or waiting for another vaccine, I would take whatever vaccine was available to me so as soon as possible for the simple reason that I mentioned a moment ago, we want as many people as possible to be vaccinated as soon as possible. ”

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the first single-dose Covid-19 vaccine available in the U.S. and is thought to be 72% effective especially for the U.S. and offers 86% protection against severe forms of the disease in the country. The vaccine has been tested in more than 44,000 people in the US, South Africa and Latin America. Globally, it was 66.1% effective against moderate to severe Covid-19 / at least four weeks after vaccination, according to an FDA study.
But while Fauci and health experts have visited the effectiveness of the vaccine against the virus, there is concern among Americans about its effectiveness compared to vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that are about 95% protective.

“You can understand that kind of concern, but to compare vaccines, you have to compare them head-to-head and those were not compared head-to-head,” Fauci told Bash.

And while the original supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is limited – the company says only about 4 million doses of its vaccine are ready for immediate “disposal” – 20 million should be ready by the end March.

The Advisory Committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Vaccination Practices, known as ACIP, will meet on Sunday to establish the guidelines for who should receive the vaccine. Their vote is scheduled for 3pm ET.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Jen Christensen from CNN and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.

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