“Let’s begin with what the FDA did not do,” the company’s former commissioner mentioned on CNBC’s “Squawk Field.” “They did not revoke the emergency use authorization. They did not order this off the market.”

“This was a requested pause, which is a clumsy regulatory step, however I believe it displays the extent of warning on their half to to not seem to behave too forcefully right here,” mentioned Gottlieb, a member of Pfizer’s board of administrators.

The company’s choice, introduced Tuesday, got here after six ladies out of hundreds of thousands vaccinated developed blood clots.

Gottlieb predicted that the transfer will nonetheless “gasoline the hesitancy” from some individuals to get a Covid vaccine.

“Even when there is not a causal relationship, even when that is exceedingly uncommon, I believe we will see that complete dialog now get ignited on social media,” he mentioned.

Practically 7 million doses of J&J’s vaccine have been administered, making the opposed occasions “extraordinarily uncommon,” the FDA confused in a joint assertion with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

Gottlieb mentioned he believes the J&J vaccine might come again into use “with some further, maybe, restrictions on its goal populations within the interim whereas they proceed to analyze this.”

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech firm Aetion Inc. and biotech firm Illumina. He additionally serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings′ and Royal Caribbean‘s “Wholesome Sail Panel.” The Related Press contributed to this report.