Advisory Panel Recommends Resumption of the Use of the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

    The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which guides the government on vaccine use, voted 10 to 4, with one abstention, today to resume the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine-19 for anyone over the age of 18: with no warnings added.

     One week ago, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended a pause on the use of J & J’s one-shot vaccine after a handful of women experienced dangerous blood clots after they received their shots.

     Since last week, the CDC and the FDA have found that 15 women, out of 7 million Americans who have been vaccinated with the J & J shot, experienced blood clots, and three of those women died, the Advisory Panel said.

     Thirteen of the women who suffered from blood clots were between the ages of 18 and 49, and two of the women were older than 50. No cases of blood clots were found in men who received the J & J shot.

     The CDC and the FDA now will review and vote on the Advisory Panel’s recommendation, which said the vaccine had many more benefits than risks.

    The risk that the CDC and the FDA have acknowledged is that the blood clots that arise in rare cases as a side effect of the shot require different medication that is usually used and about which physicians are now aware.

    To stay on the lookout for the dangers of blood clots, the CDC and the FDA have advised patients and doctors to stay alert for any severe headaches, abdominal pains, leg pains, and shortness of breath, which are the symptoms that can arise from blood clots arise within three weeks of a J&J vaccination.

Photo by: Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)