Fauci hopeful on upcoming Johnson & Johnson vaccine decision: 'We will get it back in some manner or form'

• Dr. Anthony Fauci says he hopes there's a decision on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the end of this week.
• "I do think we will get it back in some manner or form," Fauci said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.
• The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was paused after six people developed blood clots.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said he hopes there's a decision on the paused Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Friday.

"I do think we will get it back in some manner or form, but what I hope that we don't see anything beyond Friday," Fauci told Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.

-State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 18, 2021

Fauci's remarks come after the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was paused after six women ranging from ages 18 and 48 developed blood clots after receiving the shot, as Insider previously reported.

"The safety and well-being of the people who use our products is our number one priority. We are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine," Johnson & Johnson wrote in an April 13 statement.

"The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases out of more than 6.8 million doses administered," the statement said.

The CDC plans to meet on Friday to discuss the vaccine pause, and Fauci said hopefully "we'll get back on track one way or the other."

"I think by that time we're going to have a decision," Fauci said. "Now, I don't want to get ahead of the CDC and the FDA and the advisory committee but I would imagine that what we will see is that it would come back and it will come back within some sort of either warning or restriction."