Colorado Resumes Use Of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

Colorado will resume the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment announced Friday evening.

The FDA and CDC recommended states lift the pause on the single-dose coronavirus vaccine that officials in Colorado had put on hold after rare cases of blood clots emerged in some people who had received the vaccine.

Colorado's state public health agency and the Colorado Joint Vaccine Task Force told providers they could resume the vaccine, effective immediately.

“We are happy to have this highly effective, one-dose vaccine back as an option for Coloradans,” said Dr. Eric France, chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “We appreciate the caution the CDC and FDA took to evaluate the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and are ready to ramp back up distribution as quickly as possible.”

At its meeting Friday, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reported that there had been nine new confirmed cases of the rare blood clots, bringing the total to 15. The 15 cases were reported out of nearly 8 million vaccine doses given as of April 21, the committee reported. All the cases were in women and two of the cases were in women older than 50.

At the time the pause was recommended, the FDA and CDC said in a joint statement that there were six reported cases of the rare and severe type of blood clot all in women between the ages of 18-48. At least 6.8 million people had received the single-dose vaccine as of April 13.

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The CDC is also investigating two deaths as part of its investigation into the vaccine, according to health officials in Virginia and Oregon.

The committee voted 10-4, with one abstention, to recommend lifting the pause and allow the vaccine to be used under its emergency use authorization in those 18 and older and adding a warning label about the rare blood clots. The vote came 10 days after the initial pause.

Health officials in Colorado stopped administering the vaccine April 13 after the recommendation from federal officials. Around 9,700 doses of the vaccine were shipped to the state for the week of April 12.

Health officials in Colorado said none of the reported clotting cases occurred in our state.

To date, health care providers have administered 138,000 doses of the vaccine in Colorado — around 2.3 percent of the state's population.

“Vaccine safety and the health and safety of all Coloradans is a top priority,” France said. “The CDC and FDA conducted this investigation and review out of an abundance of caution and is a result of their long-standing and ongoing safety monitoring processes of all vaccines.”

Hundreds of people were turned away from the Dick's Sporting Goods Park vaccination clinic in early April after health officials paused vaccinations at the site out of an "abundance of caution" after 11 people reported adverse reactions to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was the third vaccine approved for emergency use in the U.S. against COVID-19. The vaccine uses an inactivated adenovirus to deliver instructions to cells and mount an immune response against COVID-19. In clinical trials, the vaccine was found to have an efficacy of 66.3 percent and people had the most protection from the shot two weeks after getting vaccinated. According to the CDC, the vaccine had a high efficacy in preventing people from being hospitalized and dying.

The vaccine has an advantage as it requires just a single dose and can be stored at normal temperatures unlike like the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. Because of its advantages, the vaccine is a key part of state efforts to reach rural and other hard to reach populations.