J&J Vaccine Pause, Will It Affect The Tri-Towns?

ESSEX, CHESTER, DEEP RIVER, CT — A recommendation Tuesday morning from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control that Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccinations be paused because of concerns about cerebral blood clots will reportedly not affect the state's vaccine rollout (including the tri-towns).

Governor Ned Lamont said he did not think the pause on the J&J vaccine distribution, which he estimated will last less than a week, will hurt the state's final phase of its vaccine rollout. Connecticut is currently administering the vaccine to everyone 16 and older. Vaccine supply is still scheduled to outpace demand in the state before the end of April, according to the governor, and he is advising providers to hang on to the J&J doses they already have according to an article written by Patch's Rich Kirby.

Lamont added that the pause in Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccinations is no cause for alarm.

"There have been six severe side effects out of 6.8 million J&J doses that have been administered in the United States over these many months," Lamont said during a news conference. "That's a one-in-a-million chance of having a severe side effect."

According to Rich Kirby's article,"Everything in life carries some level of risk," said acting commissioner of the Department of Public Health Diedre Gifford. "We know the risk of COVID is real. We've lost 7,000 people in Connecticut to COVID. We haven't lost anybody to this particular side effect of the J&J vaccine."

"If you are someone who has received the J&J vaccine in the last couple of weeks, you can also be comfortable that this is a very, very rare event," Gifford said, but noted that experiencing headache and low-grade fever shortly after receiving the vaccine was a common side effect for all the vaccines. The new, rare effects occurred between six and 13 days following the J&J jab.
People who have received the J&J vaccine who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider, the CDC is advising.

With reporting from Rick Kirby.