US RECOMMENDS ‘PAUSE’ FOR J&J VACCINE OVER CLOT REPORTS
The US is recommending a “pause” in administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they were investigating clots in six women that occurred in the days after vaccination.
The clots were observed along with reduced platelet counts — making the usual treatment for blood clots, the blood thinner heparin, potentially “dangerous.” More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the US, the vast majority with no or mild side effects.
The US is recommending a “pause” in administration of the singledose Johnson & Johnson Covid- 19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said they were investigating clots in six women that occurred in the days after vaccination. The clots were observed along with reduced platelet counts - making the usual treatment for blood clots, the blood thinner heparin, potentially “dangerous”.
More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the US, the vast majority with no or mild side effects. US federal distribution channels, including mass vaccination sites, will pause the use of the J&J shot, and states and other providers are expected to follow. The other two authorised vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer, are not affected by the pause.
CDC’s advisory committee on immunisation practices will meet on Wednesday to discuss the cases and the FDA has launched a probe into the cause of the clots. “Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, and Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement.
They are recommending that people who were given the J&J vaccine who are experiencing severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after receiving the shot contact their health care provider.
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