FDA Pauses Use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine

Presented By Atomic Speedway

UPDATED 3pm (4/13/21)

(COLUMBUS)—Today (4/13/21) Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud, and Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Bruce Vanderhoff, M.D., are advising all Ohio vaccine providers to temporarily pause using the Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) vaccine. 

This is in response to a statement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommending a pause in the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine following extremely rare blood-clotting events of six people in the U.S. after receiving the vaccine. Those problems occurred within 6-13 days of the six individuals receiving the shot.

Over 200,000 Ohioans have already received the J&J shot, and the Governor says he’s been told by the White House that the pause on using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will likely be “days instead of weeks.”

The CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Wednesday to further review these cases.

Officials with the Ohio Department of Health are following this situation closely.

The directive from the FDA and CDC appeared on FDA’s Twitter.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution.”

Federal officials say further “As of 4/12, 6.8m+ doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S. CDC & FDA are reviewing data involving 6 reported U.S. cases of a rare & severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare. Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered.”

CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases.

“Until that process is complete, we are recommending this pause. This is important to ensure that the health care provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot.”

In Ross County, Adena Health System is stopping its Johnson & Johnson COVD-19 vaccines following Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) guidance.

Spokeperson Jason Gilham said “We will be continuing our mass vaccination clinic appointments for this week Wednesday through Friday using the Moderna vaccine and scheduling those individuals for their second appointments. Anyone scheduled at the Adena PACCAR Medical Education Center mass vaccination clinic this week will receive a call from ODH regarding the change from Johnson & Johnson to Moderna vaccines with the option if they want to keep their appointment.”