White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said recipients of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should not be worried about its lower efficacy and should instead “feel good” about calls for booster doses. 

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While speaking to ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz he
said, “I think that they should
feel good about it because what the advisers to the FDA felt is that given the
data that they saw, very likely this should have been a two-dose vaccine to
begin with,”

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine received unanimous
recommendation for giving booster shots by the FDA vaccine advisory panel on
Friday.

While Moderna and Pfizer boosters were recommended only to those
Americans aged 65 and older or who belong to the higher risk groups.

All those aged 18 and above who received the Johnson & Johnson
jab have been recommended to get a booster dose just two months after receiving
the first dose.

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National Institutes of Health released data from a study which is
yet to be peer reviewed. As per the findings, it is safe to receive a booster dose
of a different vaccine than the first one. Moreover, those who received the Johnson
& Johnson dose had higher antibody levels when they received a Moderna or
Pfizer booster as compared to the Johnson & Johnson booster.

When asked whether receiving a different booster would be a better
option for those who were jabbed with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Fauci
responded saying, “That is true, the
data you refer to, that if you boost people who have originally received
J&J with either Moderna or Pfizer, the level of antibodies that you induce
in them is much higher than if you boost them with the original J&J,”
as per ABC news.

He added, “However, you’re talking
about laboratory data, which very often are reflective of what you would see
clinically. But the data of boosting the J&J first dose with a J&J
second dose is based on clinical data. So what’s going to happen is that the
FDA is going to look at all those data, look at the comparison and make a
determination of what they will authorize.”

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Fauci said that people will be allowed to choose their vaccine
booster as per their health needs. There’s no clarity upon whether or not the
age group for those eligible to receive Moderna and Pfizer’s boosters will be expanded
or not.