Secaucus Canceling All Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Appointments

SECAUCUS, NJ — As of Tuesday morning, the town of Secaucus is canceling all appointments scheduled to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the town-run site at the Rec Center.

This is because the FDA and the CDC recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine nationwide, because some people are developing blood clots, and at least one case was fatal.

"We are cancelling any J&J vaccine for this week until such time as the CDC advises sites to proceed," said Secaucus town administrator Gary Jeffas, who is in charge of running the Rec Center site. "Anyone who had an appointment has or is being notified this morning."

It appears these appointments are being canceled outright, with no make-up date given by the town at this time.

Janet Castro, the Hudson County Health Officer, is the person responsible for distributing the daily vaccine dose to the town of Secaucus site. She said she has been advised by the state not to throw any of the J&J shots away.

"We will pause administration, but have not been instructed to dispose of any vaccines," said Castro. "J&J vaccines will remain in temperature-controlled storage units until further notice from the NJ Dept. of Health, CDC and FDA."

However, operations at the Hudson County megasite in Kearny, the USS Juneau, will continue as usual this week, as that site did not have any J&J vaccine appointments scheduled.

"The county did not have any J&J vaccine appointments scheduled for this week, so this will not impact anyone scheduled to receive their vaccines at the USS Juneau site," said site spokeswoman Caitlin Mota. "Vaccinations will continue as scheduled."

The FDA and CDC recommended the pause after six women in America, between the ages of 18 and 48, developed rare blood clot issues within two weeks of getting the J&J shot, according to the New York Times. One woman died; a second woman remains hospitalized in critical condition.

So far, 6.8 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been given out in the U.S.

The town of Secaucus gives out all three of the vaccines currently under emergency-use authorization by the FDA: Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer. Secaucus will continue to administer Moderna and Pfizer shots this week.

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