FDA & CDC Order Halt Of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Use Over Rare Blood Clots

Early Tuesday morning, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued concurring orders to halt distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The administrations based their decision off reports that six women contracted blood clots soon after vaccination.

“All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination,” the FDA and CDC said in their joint statement. “In these cases, a type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia). We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.”

Of the women who contracted blood clots, one has since died and another is in critical condition. Johnson & Johnson later issued their own statement complying with FDA and CDC recommendations.

“We are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine,” reads a new official Johnson & Johnson statement. “In addition, we have been reviewing these cases with European health authorities. We have made the decision to proactively delay the rollout of our vaccine in Europe.”

White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients confirmed that the Johnson & Johnson halt will not change the United States’ COVID-19 vaccine rollout schedule. “[The halt] will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan: Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5% of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date,” Zients confirmed in an interview Tuesday. “The United States has secured enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans.”