Fauci on Johnson & Johnson vaccine temporary pause: 'We take safety very seriously'

Anthony Fauci appears on ABC News' "This Week."

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he hopes the temporary pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine raised Americans' confidence in federal agencies' concern for safety, rather than increased vaccine hesitancy. "The CDC and the FDA are the gold standard for both safety and the evaluation of efficacy, I think in the long run what we're going to see -- we'll probably see it soon -- is that people will realize that we take safety very seriously," the White House chief medical adviser told "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. "We've looked at it. Now let's get back and get people vaccinated. And that's what we're going to be doing, get as many people vaccinated as we possibly can," Fauci added. On Friday, an independent government advisory panel voted in favor of resuming Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccinations but with a new general warning about the potential of extremely rare but serious blood clots.