Posted 3 years ago
U.S. regulators have recommended pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine while the company also announced it was delaying the roll-out of its vaccine in Europe. This announcement comes as regulators in the United States have started investigating rare blood clotting in six women who received the vaccine. This follows Europe's drug regulator saying they've found a possible link between AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and very rare blood clots in some adults.
Blot clotting after receiving either vaccine has been extremely rare. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has said of the 34 million AstraZeneca does giving out, as of April 4, had received 169 reports of cases of CVST, or clots in blood vessels exiting the brain, and 53 cases of splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT), or clotting in veins in the abdomen. This cases have occured usually within the first two weeks of receiving the vaccine. German vaccination officials recorded 29 cases of CVST in women aged 20 to 59 who received the AstraZeneca vaccine. In J&J's case, all six recipients were women between the ages of 18 and 48, and the symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination. In total, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been given in the United States through April 12.
J&J said it was working closely with regulators and noted no clear causal relationship had been established between the events and its shot. AstraZeneca said it was "working to understand individual cases and "possible mechanisms that could explain these extremely rare events".
In the United States the CDC has said that they "out of an abundance of caution" are recommending pausing using J&J's single-dose vaccine and Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, are recommending, that people, if possible should receive an alternative vaccine to AstraZeneca's for people under 30. While the in the US the CDC has not released the results of their review (which once released would then be reviewed by the FDA before an official statement is released); the EMA, says the benefits of using AstraZeneca's vaccine continue to outweigh any risks, said that unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as very rare side effects and countries should decide on how to proceed.
Topic: World News
Tags: Covid-19 AstraZeneca Johnson & Johnson Blood Clot Blot Clot Covid Vaccine Covid Vaccine