FDA and CDC have released a statement recommending the pause on the new Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccine after the reported case of 6 blood clots and severe side effects. Anika Khan reports.
- 6 people have reported rare and severe blood clots after taking the Johnson and Johnson Covid Vaccine in the US. Following this, the health agencies of the US recommended all the states pause the administration of this vaccine.
- The decision came after 6.8 million dozes of J&J vaccines been already administered across the nation.
- The acting FDA chief, Janet Woodcock, said: “We’re recommending this pause while we work together to fully understand these events.”
- Woodcock said: “Right now, I’d like to stress these events appear to be extremely rare. However, Covid-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for the federal government. We take all reports of adverse events related to the vaccine very seriously.”
- The FDA and CDC have asked people who are developing side effects after receiving the J&J vaccine to contact their healthcare providers immediately.
- The officials have said that the side effects are occurring between one to two weeks after the vaccine was administered. Thus, people who have received the vaccine more than a month ago are considered to have a very low risk to develop side effects
- Deputy Principal director of the CDC, Anne Schuchat said, “it was clear to us we needed to alert the public,”.
- The officials are expecting to discover more cases in the coming days and have asked people to look out for rare symptoms.
- J&J Vaccine is currently under scrutiny by the European Medicines Agency who is investigating the cases.
In a statement, J&J representatives said, “the safety and wellbeing of the people who use our products is our No 1 priority. At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine.”
