Ocean Co. Health Dept. Halts J&J Shots Amid Vaccine Pause

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Ocean County Health Department is halting inoculations with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine temporarily amid a state and national pause on administering the J&J vaccine, the department said Tuesday.

Brian Lippai, public information officer for the health department, said residents who had appointments scheduled to receive the J&J vaccine are being offered the option of keeping their scheduled appointment but receiving the two-shot Moderna vaccine instead.

Residents also can choose to make a new appointment, Lippai said.

Lippai said the number of J&J vaccine doses the county has received has varied from week to week and this week Ocean County received none because of the issues with the manufacturing in Baltimore.

"The good news is that we have enough Moderna vaccine on hand to absorb anyone that wants to make the switch," he said.

The health department's clinics at the RWJ Barnabas Health Arena at Toms River High School North and at Southern Regional Middle School will be held as planned and still had appointments available as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Lippai said.

The health department's clinics scheduled at Manchester Township Elementary School on Friday and Saturday have been canceled.

The postponement comes as the New Jersey Department of Health told all vaccination sites in the state to cancel or put on hold appointments for the J&J vaccine, in response to advice from the federal Food and Drug Administration and the federal Centers for Disease Control urging a pause.

The FDA and CDC ordered the pause to review data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine. The FDA reported that, as of Monday, more than 6.8 million doses of New Brunswick-based company's vaccine have been administered in the U.S.

"Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare," the FDA said. "Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered."

With reporting by Tom Davis

Note: This article has been updated with additional information from the Ocean County Health Department.

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