LA County To Resume Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Shots

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles County will resume the administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines now that the federal government has lifted its pause of the one-shot vaccine. However, Angelenos will receive warning materials about rare instances of blood clots linked to the vaccine, county health officials announced Friday.

There are nearly 40,000 Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at county clinics and pharmacies and health centers in Los Angeles County, according to Dr. Paul Simon, the county's chief science officer. The federal government's decision to allow the vaccine to be used again is expected to help speed up the drive to innoculate residents as quickly as possible. However, it remains to be seen if residents will seek out the vaccine in following the pause earlier this month.

An advisory committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Friday that the J&J vaccine re-enter circulation, with a warning about potentially dangerous blood-clotting that occurred in 15 people -- out of about 7 million doses administered nationwide.

Within hours, the committee's recommendation was adopted by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, clearing the way for the administration of the vaccine to resume.

There have been fears that news of the blood clots that forced a halt to the vaccine's use would contribute to public hesitancy in general about getting vaccinated. While it is difficult to measure that impact, Los Angeles County has seen a drop-off in people making appointments at some of its vaccination sites.

The county announced Thursday that it will administer shots on a walk-in basis, without appointments, at all of its large-scale vaccination sites through the weekend. That's a stark change from the early days of the vaccination effort, when appointments were in short supply.

Simon said the county could resume offering the shots within one or two days. He continued to promote the safety of the vaccines, noting the low rate of the blood-clotting cases that forced a hold on the vaccine 10 days ago. He called it an "excellent vaccine."

"This side effect appears to be very, very rare, and we feel that there shouldn't be any reluctance on the part of people to be vaccinated with the J&J vaccine," he said. "We're in the process of developing, or at least finalizing now, the educational materials that will be used for clients and also for providers so that we can move forward."

At the same time, the shortage of vaccines that has characterized the rollout since December is no longer a problem. The increased supply combine with the declining demand has prompted the county to open many clinics for walk-in appointments.

"Since the vaccine entered L.A. County, we had experienced a shortage of supply that made it impossible to vaccinate our residents at the pace we were prepared to do," Simon said Friday. "That is no longer the case."

He noted that some county sites are still seeing their appointments fill quickly, but others are not, particularly in the Antelope Valley.

"We're watching this very closely," Simon said. "As we increase vaccination rates across the county population, we're increasingly going to have a reservoir of unvaccinated people who increasingly will be less interested in being vaccinated. And I think that group includes a broad spectrum of people -- some who may be hard no's. ... We don't think that's a large percentage, but there are those out there in that camp. And then there are others I would regard as softer no's, that are no's right now but they may be persuaded otherwise."

He said the slow-down in the pace of people making appointments is likely due to a variety of factors, including recent downward trends in COVID case numbers that may lead people to believe the shots aren't necessary, and potentially more people getting shots from other non-county sources, such as pharmacies.

"We've already vaccinated that portion of our population that desperately wanted to be vaccinated," he said. "Early on there was a rush. While others have been willing to wait a little bit but nonetheless felt vaccinations were really important, and so were willing to work hard to get appointments early on. And now we're sort of sliding into that remaining group of people that have some level maybe of either hesitation or reluctance or aren't so sure and want some more information."

Through Monday, walk-up vaccinations will be available at:

• Palmdale Oasis Recreation Center, 3850 E. Avenue S;
• The Forum, 3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood;
• Balboa Sports Complex, 17015 Burbank Blvd., Encino;
• College of the Canyons, 25000 Valencia Blvd., Santa Clarita;
• Cal State Northridge, 18343 Plummer St.;
• Eugene Obregon Park, 4021 E. First St., Los Angeles;
• Pomona Fairplex, 2370 E. Arrow Highway, gate 15; and
• L.A. County Office of Education, 12830 Columbia Way, Downey.

As of late afternoon Friday, the county had not yet released its daily COVID statistics.

On Thursday, the county reported another 38 COVID-19 deaths, raising the overall death toll to 23,736.

Another 439 cases of COVID were reported by the county, while Long Beach health officials announced 35 cases and Pasadena added one, lifting the cumulative number from throughout the pandemic to 1,230,398.

According to state figures, there were 453 people hospitalized in Los Angeles County due to COVID, up from 451 on Thursday. The number of people in intensive care was 106, down from 109 on Thursday.

Simon said the county expects to receive an allotment of 296,990 vaccine doses next week, an 18% drop from this week. With direct allocations to pharmacies and health centers from the federal and state governments, there are expected to be more than 500,000 doses available across the county.

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