States Struggle With Vaccine Pause as Federal Officials Reassure Public

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said he hoped for a decision “quite soon” on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as local governments shifted to more complicated two-dose vaccines for marginal populations.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci said on Thursday that he hoped the nation would soon be able to resume use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as a “pause” that now looks indefinite threatened to upend vaccination efforts overseas and in some of the most marginalized communities in the United States. Dr. Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser for the pandemic, made the comment during a hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, where he and other top federal health officials implored Americans to continue to get vaccinated and sought to reassure the nation that all three federally authorized vaccines are safe. “Hopefully we’ll get a decision quite soon, as to whether or not we can get back on track with this very effective vaccine,” Dr. Fauci told the panel. With cases rising in the Midwest, he added, the nation is in a “precarious situation” and it is imperative to vaccinate “as many people as quickly and as expeditiously as we possible can.”