Alexandria Rescheduling Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Appointments

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Alexandria Health Department and other providers in Virginia have temporarily paused use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The state is following the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation as they investigate rare blood clot cases.

The CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine. All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination.

As of Monday, more than 6.8 million doses of the single-dose vaccine have been administered in the United States, according to the FDA.

The FDA and CDC, which addressed the issue during a 10 a.m. media call, said the pause will likely be a "matter of days."

In the meantime, individuals with appointments for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Alexandria will be contacted. They will either reschedule their appointment or receive a vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna, depending on supply.

The health department will share updates when available at www.alexandriava.gov/Vaccines.

The pause comes one day after Alexandria opened vaccine eligibility to all residents 16 and up. The health department has started to schedule appointments for as soon as this week. The governor set a deadline of April 18 for all Virginia health districts to expand eligibility.

According to the health department's dashboard, 45,898 are partially vaccinated as of Sunday (34.4 percent of Alexandrians 16 and up). There are 29,440 fully vaccinated (22.1 percent of Alexandrians 16 and up).

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