Almost Half Of NC Adults Have Received At Least 1 Vaccine Dose

NORTH CAROLINA — Nearly half of adults in North Carolina have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to state health data.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' data shows that 48.2 percent of state residents 18 years old and older have received at least one dose as of Monday, while 38.1 percent were fully vaccinated.

As of April 26, healthcare providers had administered nearly 6.9 total doses of vaccine in the state, DHHS said. Of those shots, 3.7 million were first doses, 2.8 million with second doses and 253,466 were Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccines.

SEE ALSO: J&J Vaccine Pause: Recommendation To Lift In NC, Elsewhere In US

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 North Carolina had put on hold after rare cases of blood clots emerged in some people who had taken the vaccine.

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.
Subscribe

Health officials in North Carolina stopped administering the vaccine April 13 after the recommendation from federal officials. As of April 22, at least 253,338 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the state.

Immediately following the CDC findings, DHHS urged vaccine providers to resume offering the vaccine.

"Following a thorough safety review, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have confidence that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19 and recommend its continued use to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19," DHHS said in a statement.

As of Friday afternoon, North Carolina had about 132,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on hand, and expected to receive more doses this week.

Mark Hand, Patch staff, contributed