Biden’s Approval Rating Rises, Helped by Vaccine Distribution Push

The American public doesn’t think President Biden deserves sole credit for the widespread availability of Covid-19 vaccines, but it overwhelmingly likes the job he’s doing getting them distributed — and it’s feeding a high job approval rating over all.

Those are among the results of a Pew Research Center poll released on Thursday that offers a portrait of a country that is increasingly positive about its political leaders.

As Mr. Biden nears his 100th day in office, his approval rating stood at 59 percent, according to the poll, with 39 percent of respondents disapproving of his performance in office. That’s a small but meaningful uptick from his 54 percent approval in a Pew poll last month.

In the most recent survey, two-thirds of the country approved of the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid package that Mr. Biden recently signed, though approval cleaved hard to party lines. Forty-nine percent of all respondents said they expected the package to have a positive effect on them and their family; just 14 percent thought it would affect them negatively.

an immediate pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within one to three weeks of vaccination.

All 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico temporarily halted or recommended providers pause the use of the vaccine. The U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites and a host of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Publix, also paused the injections.

Fewer than one in a million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations are now under investigation. If there is indeed a risk of blood clots from the vaccine — which has yet to be determined — that risk is extremely low. The risk of getting Covid-19 in the United States is far higher.

The pause could complicate the nation’s vaccination efforts at a time when many states are confronting a surge in new cases and seeking to address vaccine hesitancy.

Johnson & Johnson has also decided to delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe amid concerns over rare blood clots, dealing another blow to Europe’s inoculation push. South Africa, devastated by a more contagious virus variant that emerged there, suspended use of the vaccine as well. Australia announced it would not purchase any doses.