The E.U. last week announced it was boosting its supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and was negotiating a new deal for future booster shots with the company for 2022 and 2023, signaling it was going to prioritize vaccines, like Pfizer’s and Moderna’s, that use the mRNA technology.
But the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been an important component of vaccination plans from the United States to South Africa.
What You Need to Know About the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause in the U.S.
-
- On April 13, 2021, U.S. health agencies called for an immediate pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within one to three weeks of vaccination.
- All 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico temporarily halted or recommended providers pause the use of the vaccine. The U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites and a host of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Publix, also paused the injections.
- Fewer than one in a million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations are now under investigation. If there is indeed a risk of blood clots from the vaccine — which has yet to be determined — that risk is extremely low. The risk of getting Covid-19 in the United States is far higher.
- The pause could complicate the nation’s vaccination efforts at a time when many states are confronting a surge in new cases and seeking to address vaccine hesitancy.
- Johnson & Johnson has also decided to delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe amid concerns over rare blood clots, dealing another blow to Europe’s inoculation push. South Africa, devastated by a more contagious virus variant that emerged there, suspended use of the vaccine as well. Australia announced it would not purchase any doses.
U.S. health officials called for a pause in the vaccine’s use on April 13 to examine a rare blood-clotting disorder that emerged in a small number of recipients. Johnson & Johnson suspended its E.U. rollout immediately afterward. E.U. countries had just begun receiving their first shipments of the vaccine, and all but Poland followed the company’s guidance and have not began administering it.
Six cases of the rare blood clotting that emerged in the U.S. were all women between the ages of 18 and 48, and developed the illness within one to three weeks of vaccination. One woman in Virginia died, and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition.
At a meeting of expert advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, a representative from Johnson & Johnson presented information on two new cases, bringing the total to eight. The EMA said in their announcement that they reviewed all eight cases.
On Monday, the C.D.C. said that while federal health officials were investigating “a handful” of new, unconfirmed reports that had emerged since the pause nationwide, “no additional cases of the rare form of blood clots post-vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been confirmed.”
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the United States’ leading infectious disease expert, said previously that he anticipated a decision about whether to resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this Friday, when the expert panel that is advising the agency is scheduled to meet again.
On Tuesday, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that a total of 28 million doses were shipping this week to states, jurisdictions and federal programs, as the U.S. vaccination campaign continued with the other two authorized vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.