Was pausing J&J vaccine the right thing to do?

[dismalist]

If they had raised the alarm and allowed people to choose, that would've been a better situation (IMO).  I would have gotten J&J anyway (I was scheduled for the day after the pause).

Bingo! Fewer dead people that way.

[Ruralguy]

I think a provisionary warning with no pause would probably have been fine. I also think an uptick in COVID deaths (weeks from now) attributed to the pause would be pretty small. Perhaps bigger than 5, but maybe not a lot bigger (especially since many would get another vaccine, get J&J later, or mitigate for now and eventually get vaccine).  I also agree that no pause could lead to hesitancy, especially if there were more deaths, or a warning was issued but shots still administered without having examined the problem more deeply.