PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — U.S. health officials are recommending a pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine as they investigate six cases of rare and severe blood clots.
In a joint statement released Tuesday morning, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the recommendation was made “out of an abundance of caution.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, the drugmaker said they will delay their rollout in Europe, after reviewing cases with health authorities there.
According to a CDC report, the six people who became sick are women between 18 and 48 years old. One of the them died, and another is in the hospital in critical condition.
U.S. health officials stress that “these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.” These six cases are out of 6.8 million doses that have been administered in the United States as of Monday.
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KYW Medical Editor Dr. Brian McDonough said regulators are doing the right thing and should be as transparent as possible.
“It’s essential to keep building trust with the vaccines. What you don’t want to do is give even the perception that you’re hiding something or not looking at something totally and thoroughly,” McDonough said.
U.S. 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.
Both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey health departments ordered vaccine providers on Tuesday morning to follow suit and pause the use of J&J pending a review. New Jersey Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said, "We will work with all sites, as needed, to reschedule vaccination appointments."
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health issued a statement saying that the city and all partner clinics "have paused the use of this vaccine until we receive further guidance. Details on the specific changes to clinics will be forthcoming, but some clinics will be closed [Tuesday] and others will be switched to other types of vaccine."
Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the vaccine education center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDA vaccine advisory committee, says both the J&J and AstraZeneca shots are vector virus vaccines. When AstraZeneca came under scrutiny in Europe for similarly rare blood clots, he said Tuesday, "there was always a question of whether there would be this effect here as well."
Listen to more of Offit's conversation with KYW Newsradio's Carol MacKenzie here:
Offit says, despite this setback, he believes it's still possible to get everyone vaccinated by the summer.
CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet Wednesday to discuss the cases and the FDA has also launched an investigation of the cases.
"Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution," Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of the CDC and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said in a joint statement.
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