Former President Donald Trump accused federal health regulators of slowing the vaccine rollout for “possibly political reasons” after two major agencies recommended a pause in using the coronavirus inoculation developed by Johnson & Johnson.
Earlier, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported six cases of rare, dangerous blood clots among recipients of the vaccine.
Trump said the Biden administration had done a disservice to the United States and that the vaccine would be forever tainted.
“The F.D.A., especially with long time bureaucrats within, has to be controlled,” the former president said, taking aim at a favored target and accusing the agency of giving preferential treatment to another vaccine manufacturer.
“They should not be able to do such damage for possibly political reasons, or maybe because their friends at Pfizer have suggested it. They’ll do things like this to make themselves look important,” he said.
HEALTH AGENCIES CALL FOR J&J VACCINE PAUSE AFTER CLOTTING CASES
The pharmaceutical giant has already said it is delaying a rollout of its vaccine in Europe amid a U.S. investigation into the clots.
The reaction is a blow to global efforts to eradicate the virus as the J&J vaccine is effective with a single dose and does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures, unlike vaccines developed with mRNA technology.
And it will trigger a complicated weighing of costs and benefits for patients around the world.
“The results of this vaccine have been extraordinary, but now it’s reputation will be permanently challenged,” said Trump.
But he also used the controversy to return to one of his favorite conspiracy theories. He claimed that regulators and Pfizer harmed his election chances by waiting until after the polling day to announce approval of the vaccine.
“They didn’t like me very much because I pushed them extremely hard,” he said. “But if I didn’t, you wouldn’t have a vaccine for three to five years, or maybe not at all. It takes them years to act.”
It comes after the FDA and the CDC issued a joint statement saying that six cases of a rare type of blood clot had been reported among 6.8 million vaccinations. All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48.
The CDC is convening a meeting on Wednesday to review the cases and assess their significance.
“Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” the agencies said. “This is important, in part, to ensure that the health care provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan for proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot.”
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The agencies urged anyone experiencing severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks of a J&J vaccination to contact their healthcare provider.
