The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control have asked vaccine administrators to stop using the Johnson & Johnson one-dose COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed by the company’s pharmaceutical branch, Janssen. The federal agencies called for this pause after six women experienced dangerous blood clots after getting the J&J shot. One of them, at the time the pause was called, was in critical condition. One of them died.
Dr. Ruth Berggren is an infectious diseases doctor and the director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at UT Health San Antonio. She says this recommended pause is appropriate, but stresses that the reports of blood clots in those who’ve received the J&J shot are exceedingly rare. Fewer than one in a million Americans who’ve received this shot have experienced blood clots.
In this episode of Petrie Dish, Berggren tells us more about the complications these women have experienced, what you should know if you’ve already gotten the J&J shot, what this might mean for efforts to vaccinate every American adult that wants vaccination by summer.