MD J&J Vaccine Pause: CDC To Consider Resuming Use Nationwide

MARYLAND — A federal advisory committee voted Friday to recommend that the country's top health agencies lift the pause on use of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose coronavirus vaccine that officials in Maryland had put on hold.

States nationwide followed Centers for Disease Control guidance to temporarily halt use of the vaccine last week after rare cases of blood clots emerged in some people who had taken the vaccine.

Officials with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration still have to formally adopt the panel's recommendation that vaccinations via the J&J shot resume.

The feds approved use of the J&J vaccine with a warning about blood clots, according to The Washington Post.

At its meeting Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices reported 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 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.

The move to pause use of the vaccine comes weeks after the FDA halted production of the J&J vaccine at a Baltimore facility run by Emergent BioSolutions following a mix-up in ingredients. However, the company said none of the 15 million doses that had been tainted were ever shipped out from the plant.

Related: FDA Orders Baltimore Plant To Suspend Vaccine Production

Health officials in Maryland stopped administering the vaccine April 13 after the recommendation from federal officials. Health officials in Maryland said none of the reported clotting cases occurred in the state.

The Maryland Department of Health reported 173,534 people had received the J&J vaccine in Maryland at the time it was halted.

How The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Works

There are three vaccines currently available in the United States — Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

Both Pfizer and Moderna deliver mRNA — a genetic recipe that teaches your body how to build the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus. If the real virus enters the body, your immune system will recognize it and know how to fight it.

Johnson & Johnson, however, uses a different technology to prime the body to fight against COVID-19. Instead of mRNA, it utilizes an adenovirus — a common cold virus that cannot replicate and make a person sick once it enters the cells.

Ultimately, the cold virus will deliver the coronavirus-fighting genetic blueprint into the cells and teach the immune system how to recognize the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus.

Adenovirus vaccines can be refrigerated for up to three months at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Clinical trials showed the J&J vaccine as being less effective against the virus compared with the vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer. The company said the vaccine has a 72 percent efficacy rate among trial participants in the U.S., but is about 85 percent effective against the most severe forms of the virus.

Moderna and Pfizer tout efficacy rates at or near 95 percent. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine is for people 18 years old and up.