DR ANTHONY Fauci has begged Americans NOT to be choosy about which Covid-19 vaccine they receive.
Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, made the plea as Johnson & Johnson’s one shot vaccine is set to be approved.
Johnson & Johnson’s jab, which has been called a “game-changer”, has been regarded as safe and effective by regulators and could be authorised within days.
But the vaccine has been shown to be less effective than the other two vaccines currently being given out in the United States.
Compared to Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine, both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed higher efficacy rates in trials.
One study showed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be 95 per cent and 941. Per cent protective against moderate to severe infection.
Meanwhile the same study showed that the Johnson & Johnson jab was just 66 percent protective.
But Fauci has now said direct comparison is difficult because Johnson & Johnson’s was carried out while more contagious new variants of the virus were circulating.
And now he is calling on Americans to not be picky when it comes to what jab they are given.
He told NBC: “All three of them are really quite good, and people should take the one that’s most available to them.
“If you go to a place and you have J&J, and that’s the one that’s available now, I would take it.”
He later told CNN: “In order to really compare vaccines, you have to compare them head-to-head. These were not compared head-to-head.
“The message that needs to prevail, Dana, is that there are three highly efficacious vaccines.
“I can tell you I have been fully vaccinated with one that was available, it was the Moderna.
“If I were not vaccinated now, and I had a choice of getting the J&J vaccine now or waiting for another vaccine, I would take whatever vaccine would be available to me as quickly as possible.
“We want to get as many people vaccinated as quickly and as expeditiously as possible.”
It comes as Fauci revealed that young kids will “likely” have to wait until 2022 to get the Covid vaccine, but high schoolers could get the jab in fall.
As of now, both the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved only for people over the age of 18.
The Pfizer vaccine is approved only for people over the age of 16.
“If we project realistically, when we will be able to get enough data to be able to say that elementary school children will be able to be vaccinated, I would think that would be, at the earliest, the end of the year, and very likely the first quarter of 2022,” Fauci said.
