A new poll found that Americans are no longer broadly confident in Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine after its use was paused by President Joe Biden’s CDC.
Only 37% of Americans now believe the Johnson & Johnson shot is safe, compared to 39% who don’t, according to the new poll from The Economist/YouGov. Before use of the vaccine was suspended, 52% of Americans believed it was safe, compared to only 26% who did not.
The CDC recommendation to pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine use causes public confidence in the vaccine to sink 15pts
Perceptions before CDC announcement
Safe – 52%
Unsafe – 26%Perceptions after CDC announcement
Safe – 37% (-15)
Unsafe – 39% (+13)https://t.co/iHXCHRY6Xu pic.twitter.com/952PdGSFFf— YouGov America (@YouGovAmerica) April 15, 2021
The portion of Americans who are unsure about the shot grew from 22% to 24%. The poll found that confidence in Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines sit at a much higher level, 59% and 58%, respectively.
Use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was halted after it was discovered that six recipients out of roughly seven million developed blood clots some time after getting their shot. Some have speculated that the connection could be related to the adenovirus vector technology used to develop the vaccine, which is also present in AstraZeneca’s shot. (RELATED: Trump’s Health Officials Downplayed The Virus. Now Biden’s Downplay The Vaccine)
AstraZeneca’s vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the United States, and its use has been suspended in some European countries over rare instances of blood clotting. Despite the suspensions, a new study found that it’s far more likely someone will develop blood clots from the COVID-19 illness itself than from the vaccines.
The Economist/YouGov poll follows an Echelon Insights poll released a day before which found that more than half of Americans were more confident in coronavirus vaccines overall following the Johnson & Johnson pause. Still, that poll found that 23% of Americans were less confident after the pause, and vaccine hesitancy remains a concern for somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of American adults.