At the time of the pause, more than 7 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered in the United States.
Dr. Joanne Waldstreicher, the chief medical officer of Johnson & Johnson, said the company has agreed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to add a warning label to the vaccine, which notes that “most cases” of the clotting disorder have occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 49.
Biden pushes businesses on employee vaccinations
In the meantime, with demand for COVID-19 vaccination in the United States showing signs of declining, President Joe Biden on Wednesday offered businesses new incentives to help more workers get their shots.
He asked — but did not mandate — that businesses give employees paid time off to get vaccinated, and even offered special tax credits to businesses employing under 500 people, to help cover any costs.
According to the Times, Biden said that “no working American should lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they chose to fill their patriotic duty to get vaccinated.”
Biden spoke during a White House briefing to announce that 200 million Americans had now gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. That milestone means Biden has already met a target he set for his 100th day in office, which is Thursday.
But even harder work may lie ahead: Most of those Americans who were already eager to get a vaccine have already done so, and in the weeks ahead convincing the vaccine-hesitant to line up for a shot will be a harder sell.
Michael Carney is the senior vice president for emerging issues at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Speaking with the Times, he said, “If you think of this as a war, we’re about to enter the hand-to-hand combat phase of the war.”
Paid time off could be a major weapon in that battle. According to the Times, officials say that about 30% of unvaccinated workers said it could help convince them to get immunized. Some businesses are also contemplating their own vaccination education campaigns and immunization clinics.
