New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
U.S. officials call for ‘pause’ of J&J vaccine
Area clinics switch to Moderna, Pfizer vaccines
NEW HAVEN — At least one local COVID-19 vaccination clinic was postponed a day and numerous vaccine appointments changed after the Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration Tuesday called for a pause in the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine after several recipients developed blood clots.
Other scheduled clinics will not be affected, however, health officials said, and will offer vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, which require two doses compared to the singleshot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The city Tuesday said it was postponing a clinic that was to be held at Casa de Oracion y Adora
cion, 555 Columbus Ave., until Wednesday.
But city Health Director Maritza Bond said the timing of other scheduled clinics would not be affected.
“In an abundance of caution, we are pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine indefinitely,” Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement. “Until we have further clearance from the CDC and authorization from the State regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the City will be using the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines at all COVID-19 clinics in New Haven.”
Federal officials cited six women, all of whom had received a dose 6 to 13 days earlier, who developed blood clots. Approximately 6.8 million people nationwide have received the vaccine, including about 97,000 in Connecticut.
Dr. Ohm Deshpande, vice president of population health at Yale New Haven Health, said the hospital system had halted all distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. They had not seen any cases of clotting after the distribution of the vaccine, he said.
Deshpande said YNHH officials were working to shift scheduled appointments to the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, provided the hospital system can obtain the necessary supply, and provide information to those concerned by the development.
“We’re working on getting more data to counsel and support people,” said Deshpande.
Deshpande said that those who had previously received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be aware of the rarity of the adverse reports. “Luck is on your side. It is very, very unlikely that you will have these issues happen to you,” he said. “(I)t’s a really, really low chance.”
Deshpande noted the reported cases of clotting had happened within the first two weeks after vaccination. Potential signs of an adverse reaction include weakness in the lower extremities and nausea, he said. Dana Marnane, communications director for the Yale New Haven Health system, said about 16,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been administered by the system. The majority of the system’s allocation from the state has been either Moderna or Pfizer, she said.
“We know that many people are anxious to get vaccinated during this pandemic, so all upcoming vaccination clinic appointments where Johnson & Johnson was the vaccine, we will now offer provide either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines,” she said. “We will proactively reach out to these patients about the change.”
Fair Haven Community Health Community Health Care also began rescheduling appointments for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that were to be delivered in its clinic at Wilbur Cross High School.
FHCHC Director of Marketing and Development Karen Nemiah said the clinic has been using both the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, based on what had been allocated. She said the clinic in recent weeks had been receiving a larger allocation of Johnson & Johnson than Moderna.
Everett Lamm, vice president of clinical affairs for FHCHC, said patients arriving at the clinic expecting a Johnson & Johnson vaccine were turned away Tuesday morning with the promise that they’d be guaranteed an appointment for a first dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine later this week.
“The first thing we did was send a text to everyone expecting to receive the vaccine before they were arriving, some as they were pulling into the parking lot, we literally greeted them on the sidewalk in front of Wilbur Cross where we explained to them how things would be working. Our plan was before anybody left the site they had an appointment scheduled for later this week,” he said.
On Tuesday, staff at the FHCHC clinic administered only second doses of the Moderna vaccine to those who had appointments.
Although the clinic had been using only Moderna and Johnson & Johnson doses before this week, Lamm said clinic staff were “reading the tea leaves” and ordered a shipment of Pfizer through a federal program in anticipation the vaccine would be authorized for a youth population. Those first doses will now be put to use sooner than clinic staff had planned, he said.
“We believe we now have coverage for the week,” he said.
Lamm said Tuesday’s news about Johnson & Johnson leads many vaccine administrators in the state “in a lurch” as they will become more reliant on both the state and federal government for shipments.
Lamm said he did not know how many doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been set aside by the clinic Tuesday.
Hamden Mayor Curt B. Leng said on Twitter that a vaccination clinic set for Tuesday at the Keefe Community Center had been canceled, with plans for later in the week still being developed.
The state Department of Public Health said in a statement Tuesday that none of the six clotting cases had occurred in Connecticut.
“Although the reported complications are extremely rare, we will await the results of the investigation before proceeding with further use of the J&J vaccine,” officials said.
DPH said those who develop “severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath” within three weeks of receiving the J&J medication should contact their health care provider.
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson noted it was aware of the cases, but said they had not been clearly linked to the vaccine.
“We are aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with Covid-19 vaccines,” Johnson & Johnson said in a statement. “At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.”