Over 70% of Americans unwilling to get Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 jab following pause over blood clot worries – poll

Only 22% of unvaccinated Americans say they are willing to get the one-shot Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine following the pause on distribution after concerns over blood clots.

Less than half of Americans feel the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is very or somewhat safe, according to a Washington Post/ABC poll released on Monday.

Respondents feel much more confident about the two other vaccines available on the market – Pfizer and Moderna – as over 70% said they felt those two-shot vaccines are very or somewhat safe. 

Over 70% of those polled said they are unwilling to get the J&J vaccine, while only 22% said they were still willing following the recent pause over concerns about blood clots developing in a small number of patients. 

The pause on the vaccine was lifted last week. Many were quick to criticize the concern as there were less than 20 cases of blood clots amid the millions of doses administered. 

Health officials have argued the pause was to put “safety” first. 

“We're out there trying to combat the degree of vaccine hesitancy that still is out there. And one of the real reasons why people have hesitancy is concern about the safety of the vaccine,” White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday about the pause. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will now carry a warning label about the blood clotting issue, according to reports. 

Of growing concern among health officials are reports that millions of Americans are skipping their second vaccine shots. Ironically, Johnson & Johnson is the only vaccine available in the US that only requires one shot. Pfizer and Moderna require two jabs and two appointments set weeks apart.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows about 8% of Americans have missed their second vaccine appointments, which is up from around 3% in March, though officials have said some patients with two separate appointments from “different reporting entities” have not been thoroughly counted. The reason for missing a second appointment, according to the CDC, “requires further analysis.” 

Fauci on Sunday said the skipping of second doses was an expected trend.

“Obviously whenever you have a two-dose vaccine, you're going to see people who for one reason or other – convenience, forgetting, a number of other things – just don't show up for the second vaccine,” he said. 

The Post/ABC poll on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was conducted among over 1,000 adults and has a margin of error of 3.5%.

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