Doctors expect pause on J & J vaccine to be lifted soon

FOX 2 - As an investigation into the Johnson and Johnson vaccine continues, health officials expect the pause to be lifted later this week, putting the total time at about a week and a half.

"The CDC is actively looking at all the data about the safety of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine," said Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health. 

This comes after six women developed blood clots after getting the shot. Levine, from the US Department of Health and Human Services, stresses that the complication is still rare. 

"We are talking about less than one in 1 million, so all of that information about those patients and the safety of the vaccines, Johnson and Johnson vaccine, is being looked at," she said.  

But what can you learn in a week and half? That's what we asked Doctor Joel Fishbain who works at Beaumont Grosse Pointe. 

"They can look through the records, they can look through the histories, they can look at reports from other vaccines," Fishbain said. "They can look at all the data to say that it's safe." 

Fishbain says this problem is not new - rare complications have been discovered after medications have been released before. 

"Now somebody has to decide - above my pay grade - that this is safer than the disease offered to people with maybe a warning, maybe a consideration or limited use to those who don't seem to be as affected by the vaccine."  

Fishbain says patients need to be educated about COVID-19 along with the risks and benefits of the vaccine. 

As for what he would say to the skeptics who may believe more time is needed:

"The system is working exactly how it's designed to work," he said. "It's working beautifully. There was an identified problem, we have a system set up to identify the problem. It's being looked at and depending on the decision, it has been considered safe."