WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. is recommending a "pause" in administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.
A top health official at Minnesota's largest hospital said the pause is a good idea, while pointing out that this usually happens when a specific treatment is administered to a lot of people.
"It's the right thing to do, but I'm worried that people are going to think, 'oh my goodness, if I get this vaccine I'm doomed to get a blood clot.' That is not the case," Hennepin Health Care's Dr. David Hilden told Dave Lee on the WCCO Morning News.
"It is still probably much more likely that you are going to be protected by getting the vaccine than getting the blood clot," he said.
In a joint statement Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said it was investigating clots in six women in the days after vaccination, in combination with reduced platelet counts.
More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S.
"If my math is right, there's a one-in-a-million chance that these people got a blood clot relative to the vaccine, but it could be it's not even related to the vaccine," Hilden said, adding that officials are being cautious about possible side-effects.
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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.