Regulators did not make the J&J decision lightly

During an American Medical Association webinar, FDA’s top vaccine regulator Peter Marks explained his decision-making.

“There was tremendous consideration, very thoughtful dialogue that went behind this pause, everyone knew that there was the potential that we would cause some concern here, and then it could cause a hit, so to speak, to vaccine confidence,” Marks said.

“On the other hand, the larger concern was, if we made some announcement about this, did not have a pause … we would really potentially be in a situation where we had not taken the right steps to inform providers and make sure everyone pays attention to this issue.”