COVID-19 Hospitalizations Inch Up In LA; Vaccinations Rescheduled

LOS ANGELES, CA — Though no blood clots have been tied to women who received the Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine at Los Angeles County clinics, health officials canceled and rescheduled all appointments for the shot this week.

Most patients were rescheduled or given an opportunity to receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. The federal government suddenly paused usage of the vaccine this week after six women developed blood clots within weeks of receiving the vaccine. One of the blood clots proved fatal. The move prompted public doubt about the safety of the vaccines, forcing health officials to vouch for the overall safety of the coronavirus vaccines. Now County health officials are working to encourage residents to get vaccinated as coronavirus hospitalizations crept up in Los Angeles this week.

"These reactions to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are, as has been noted, extremely rare," county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday. "Almost 7 million people have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States to date, making these unusual clots literally one- in-a-million events, a risk that's about half the risk of getting struck by lightning."

According to Ferrer, about 230,000 Johnson & Johnson doses have been administered at county vaccination sites without complications. Still, the county cancelled roughly 19,600 appointments for Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week. As of Wednesday, 13,670 of those appointments were switched to either the Pfizer or Moderna shots, Ferrer said.

She said people who need to have appointments rescheduled will be prioritized for appointments next week.

Ferrer sought to take hope from the unexpected pause in the use of the vaccine. Pausing its use despite the low rate of serious after-effects "is a sign that the vaccine-safety system is working in the United States, and also that protecting the safety of Americans remains our number one concern," she said.

The six women who developed blood clots in the brain ranged in age from 18 to 48. They are the only know cases among the seven million people who have received the shot in the United States. On Wednesday, a Centers for Disease Control panel of experts asked for 10 more days to study the issue.

"It's really not clear that the extremely rare clotting cases are linked to the vaccine, and many people are going to have completely harmless headaches and flu-like symptoms the first few days after getting vaccinated," she said. "However, if you did receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the last month and you develop severe headache, blurry vision, fainting, seizures, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath, you should contact your doctor or seek medical treatment."

She added: "Getting vaccinated remains a critical step on our path to safely reopening and ending this pandemic, and we remain committed to doing everything we can to continue vaccinating L.A. residents as fast as we get doses."

As of Wednesday, a total of nearly 5.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in the county, including more than 1.9 million people who have received second doses and are fully vaccinated. Eligibility for the shots will expand countywide on Thursday to everyone aged 16 and over. Vaccination sites operated by the city of Los Angeles began offering shots to that group on Tuesday.

The county, which saw a dramatic decline in new COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the past two months, has seen the numbers level off. State-adjusted figures released Tuesday showed the county's seven- day average daily rate of new COVID-19 cases was 3.2 per 100,000 residents, a slight increase from 3.1 over the past two weeks.

Ferrer said the small upward tick was not an immediate cause for concern, calling it "really a blip at this moment" and insisting the numbers have been holding steady overall.

"As a reminder, the adjusted case rate reflects numbers from 10 days ago, and we really haven't seen a significant increase over this past week," she said. "... We could have these very small changes in the adjusted case rate, but right now I think we are holding steady. We are definitely not declining any longer, but we are holding steady."

She also said she was not immediately concerned about up-and-down hospitalization numbers over the past week.

"I think this is, again, without the case numbers continuing to drop so significantly, you're not going to then see two to three weeks later significant drops in hospitalizations either," she said.

According to state figures, the number of people hospitalized in Los Angeles County rose back above the 500-mark Wednesday, reaching 518, up from 493 on Tuesday and 471 on Monday. There were 123 people in intensive care as of Wednesday, down slightly from 126 on Tuesday.

The county reported an additional 57 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, and Long Beach added one, bringing the cumulative county death toll during the pandemic to 23,554.

Another 411 cases were also reported by the county, while Long Beach health officials added 38 more, pushing the overall pandemic total in the county to 1,227,002.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.