Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine May be Available Again This Weekend

  The Johnson & Johnson vaccine could soon be available again as early as this weekend, but with a new warning about the rare chance of blood clots, which were reported in six women, including one who died, out of 7.5 million people who have received the one-shot vaccine.

   After much review, federal health authorities find the shot’s benefits, and its use for hard-to-reach populations like the elderly, the homebound, and the homeless, continue to outweigh the shot’s risks, which Rochelle Walensky, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) has said affected only a “handful” of people.

   For New Yorkers who are homebound, Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed out yesterday about the one-shot vaccine, “it’s just immensely better to not have to come back a second time because it takes so much effort to do the homebound.

  In addition, the J & J shot appeals to many “everyday New Yorkers,” the mayor said, because the vaccine requires only one dose.

   After temporarily recommending a halt to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine on April 13, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which share responsibilities when it comes to vaccines, have emphasized that the correlation of blood clots and the shot is rare.

   The CDC and the FDA advisory committee is set to give another report on Friday on the latest number of cases of vaccine-related blood clots. If the advisory committee then votes to lift the J & J pause, then the agencies can recommend resuming the use of the vaccine almost immediately.

 (Photo by: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)