FDA restricts J&J’s Covid-19 vaccine due to rare blood clot risk

WASHINGTON: US regulators on Thursday strictly limited who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine due to the ongoing risk of rare but serious blood clots.

The Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine. US authorities for months have recommended that Americans get Pfizer or Moderna shots instead of J&J’s vaccine.

FDA’s vaccine chief Dr Peter Marks said the agency decided to restrict the vaccine after taking another look at the data on the risks of life- threatening blood clots and concluding that they are limited to J&J’s vaccine. “If there’s an alternative that appears to be equally effective in preventing severe outcomes from Covid- 19, we’d rather see people opting for that,” Marks said. “But we’ve been careful to say that - compared to no vaccine - this is still a better option.”

The problem occurs in the first two weeks after vaccination, he added: “So if you had the vaccine six months ago you can sleep soundly tonight knowing this isn’t an issue.”

The FDA authorised J&J’s shot in February last year for adults 18 and up.

The vaccine was initially considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it required only one shot. But the single-dose option proved less effective than two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Moderna and Pfizer shots over J& J’s because of its safety issues.

As of mid-March, federal scientists had identified 60 cases of the side effect, including nine that were fatal. That amounts to 3.23 blood clot cases per 1 million J&J shots. The problem is more common in women under 50, where the death rate was roughly 1 per million shots, according to Marks.