The FDA and the CDC announced Tuesday morning that ‘out of an abundance of caution’ they are ‘pausing’ the Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine after six US women developed rare blood clots. One woman has died.
Even though more than seven million people have safely had the shot, and medical experts say you are ‘more likely to be hit by a car than develop blood clots from the vaccine,’ the shot is on hold until there is further research.
‘This is a devastating blow to this J&J vaccine effort in the United States. Johnson and Johnson was incredibly useful for mobile vaccination. You could just do one shot…this is definitely going to cause a ripple effect in our attempt in the United States,’ Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC.
Meanwhile, vaccination sites are scrambling to keep appointments and just switch out to a Pfizer or Moderna two-shot model.
Jeff Zients, who heads the White House COVID-19 Response also went on the record to say that this won’t have too much of an impact on the goal of getting every American vaccinated.
‘This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan: Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5 percent of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date,’ he said in a statement released by the White House.