J&J Vaccine: Recommendation To Lift Pause In Illinois, Elsewhere

ILLINOIS — A federal committee voted Friday to recommend that the FDA and CDC lift the pause on the Johnson & Johnson single-dose coronavirus vaccine that officials in Illinois had put on hold after rare cases of blood clots emerged in some people who had taken the vaccine.

Federal health officials still have to formally adopt the recommendation.

At its meeting Friday, the 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 while the rest were in women between the ages of 18-48.

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 when those numbers were reported.

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 Illinois stopped administering the vaccine April 13 after the recommendation from federal officials. More than 5,800 doses of the vaccine were shipped to the state for the week of April 12.

Health officials in Illinois said none of the reported clotting cases occurred in Illinois residents.

To date, officials in Illinois have administered 8.6 million doses of vaccine, including Pfizer and Moderna, while 3.6 people have been fully vaccinated, or about 28 percent of the population.

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.