Fauci believes Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will soon be back in action

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that he does not believe the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson will be taken out of circulation altogether, but that, either way, its fate should be settled by Friday.

The one-shot vaccine was granted an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, but the agency last week recommended a temporary pause on administering the vaccine because of a possible causal link to a handful of rare, potentially fatal, blood clots.

Fauci made the network rounds on Sunday, predicting that the vaccine will be back in action before too long. He told NBC News' Chuck Todd, for instance, that he doubts "very seriously" the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee will simply cancel the vaccine. But he did acknowledge that if the shot gets another green light, warnings or restrictions may be attached this time. Not wanting to get ahead of himself, Fauci refrained from speculating too deeply about what the new labels may be. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.