Could J&J vaccine pause fuel fears, increase vaccine hesitancy?
Many people on News 12's social media pages are saying the news is turning them off from going to vaccination sites to even get the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Others say this will not stop them from getting vaccinated.
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Apr 14, 2021, 2:09 AM
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Updated 1,200 days ago
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298ds agoCould the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine pause fuel fears and increase vaccine hesitancy in the Hudson Valley?
Many people on News 12's social media pages are saying the news is turning them off from going to vaccination sites to even get the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Other people News 12 spoke to say that this will not stop them from getting vaccinated.
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Judith Watson, who is the CEO of the Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center, says she had a tough job before Tuesday, and now it's even tougher.
"There are a lot of folks who are going to say 'See? We told you,'" says Watson.
As head of the center, it's her job to get as many Black and Hispanic members of the community vaccinated as possible.
Now that the J&J vaccine has questions about its safety, she's concerned.
"I would say that a third of the population will be turned off," she says.
It's an attitude that infectious disease expert Dr. Harish Moorjani, of Phelps Hospital, Northwell Health, is trying to reverse.
"We know the mRNA vaccines are very safe. We've given out more than 150 million doses of those two vaccines and really, there is no abnormal signal. That is incredible," says Moorjani.
Judith Watson knows her work is cut out for her, but she says she is hopeful.
"A segment of the population will say, 'OK, well J&J is not available. Let me go with Moderna and Pfizer.' But you know what? Time will tell," he says.
Dr. Moorjani says he thinks that the six J&J cases are not a coincidence.
He says women are naturally more prone to these types of blood clots.
Contributing factors could be underlying conditions, obesity or contraception they take.
The investigation into these reports are just beginning.
