February 28, 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci Wouldn’t Hesitate to Get the J&J Vaccine

Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a White House press briefing, at the White House on January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, encouraged Americans not to hesitate to receive the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine that the FDA authorized for use on Saturday. Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine prevented severe illness and hospitalization in trials, but its overall efficacy was 72 percent in the United States, whereas the clinical trials for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed higher efficacy rates. This raises concerns of vaccine hesitancy for the newest vaccine, which will be rolled out over the coming months with initial shipments expected as early as next week.

“The message that needs to prevail, Dana, is that these are three highly efficacious vaccines,” Fauci told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union Sunday. Fauci said that if he weren’t already vaccinated, “and I had a choice of getting a J&J vaccine now or waiting for another vaccine, I would take whatever vaccine would be available to me as quickly as possible.”

Fauci took the same message to other Sunday shows, urging Americans to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and speed up vaccination rates overall, rather than trying to hold out for a different vaccine. He further emphasized that it’s hard to compare efficacy rates across different studies, because they were conducted under different circumstances.

He cautioned that states beginning to ease lockdown restrictions are doing so prematurely, and he fears that infection rates will begin to tick up yet again. Premature reopening, he said, was “really risky” and would put us “right back on the road to rebounding.”

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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