The introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine in recent months has raised people with many questions, and the latest concerns about the single dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson have probably worried people even more.
The background: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a joint statement Tuesday morning recommending a temporary halt to distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ,
COVID-19 vaccine while they are investigating six serious cases of rare blood clots reported in people who received the injection.
Health officials called for this brief hiatus out of “an abundance of caution,” they said, emphasizing that these blood clots were “extremely rare,” occurring in only less than one in a million people vaccinated. Specifically, only six cases of these rare blood clots have been reported among the 6.8 million Americans who received the single-dose J&J vaccine. But the CDC wants to make sure health care providers are willing to treat blood clots if they do occur.
Read more: US recommends discontinuing use of J & J’s COVID-19 vaccine following reports of rare blood clots
So what happened? In these six cases, all women, a type of blood clot called a cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CVST) was seen in combination with a low platelet count (also known as thrombocytopenia). One person remains in a critical condition and one died.
Dr. Reynold Panettieri, a pulmonologist and professor of medicine at Rutgers University, explained to MarketWatch that a CVST manifests as a stroke. “Blood clots form in the draining veins of the brain, and that supports things and causes bleeding in the brain,” he said. They are rare, affect five in a million people every year, and can be caused by certain cancers or sickle cell disease.
“Don’t get a fear response, because remember, it’s less than one in a million.”
In all six recorded cases of CVST and low platelet levels among the J&J vaccine recipients, women were between 18 and 48 years old, with symptoms occurring six to 13 days after vaccination. But health officials noted that the number of these cases is so small that they can’t yet generalize whether or not this is something that women of a certain age, or other demographics, are at greater risk of developing. This is why the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which recommends the use of vaccines after approval by the Food and Drug Administration, is meeting on Wednesday to review the cases.
Coronavirus update: US COVID Vaccine Program Faces Setback With J&J Injection As Experts Say No Cause For Worry
The AstraZeneca AZN,
The COVID-19 vaccine, which has not yet been approved in the US, has been discontinued in some European countries due to similar problems with rare blood clots.
This news can understandably sound the alarm to those people who have already received their J&J vaccine, or those who will soon be getting their injection. But there is no need to panic; just notice if you have symptoms such as severe headache, stomach ache, leg pain, or shortness of breath. In that case, seek medical attention.
“I would tell them not to get a fear response in the first place because, remember, it’s less than one in a million,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, at a news conference from China. the White House. on Tuesday.
So here’s what we know about these J&J cases so far, what symptoms people should watch out for, and what to do about any upcoming J&J vaccine appointments. Please note that this information is subject to change as we learn more, so these guidelines will be updated as health officials update their recommendations.
I have already received my J&J admission. What should I pay attention to?
The CDC and FDA say that if you suffer from a severe headache, abdominal or leg pain, or develop shortness of breath within three weeks of getting your J&J vaccine, you should seek medical attention or speak with your healthcare provider.
These blood clot symptoms should not be confused with flu-like symptoms (fever, body aches, chills, tiredness, and nausea) or swollen lymph nodes under your arms and near your collarbone, which may be a normal reaction to getting one of the COVID fabrics. vaccines from J&J, Pfizer PFE,
or Moderna MRNA,
It should be noted that the blood clot events usually occurred about a week after the J&J vaccine, and no more than three weeks after vaccination, with a median of about nine days. So if it’s been almost a month since you’ve had your shot, then you should be clear.
I am scheduled to do my J&J recording. Should I cancel my appointment or get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine instead?
There is no need to rush to cancel your appointment, although your state or vaccination location is currently canceling or rescheduling J&J appointments while the recommended break is in effect. Retailers and drug stores such as Walgreens, Rite Aid RAD,
CVS CVS,
and Wegmans, for example, have canceled their J&J appointments for the time being.
Or some states, including New York and Texas, will instead switch to giving one of the other available Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines to the people scheduled to get the J&J shot. Consult your local health department or your vaccination site for advice. And the pause “won’t have a significant impact” on the White House vaccination plan, said Jeff Zients, the White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator.
In addition, doctors and vaccination sites can still give you the J&J vaccine. “This is a recommendation, and it is not a mandate. It is out of an abundance of caution, ”said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a news conference Tuesday. “If an individual healthcare provider has an interview with an individual patient, and they have determined that the benefit risk is appropriate for that individual patient, we will not prevent that healthcare provider from administering the vaccine.”
Keep in mind that tens of millions of people have already received the J&J vaccine without this serious side effect. “We have to put this in context,” said Panettieri. “It is very important to realize that millions of people have received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine and reaped the benefits of the vaccine. This is an incredibly unusual and rare event. You may be more likely to get COVID-19 and have a serious COVID infection [if you don’t get vaccinated] than to get this complication through the vaccine. ”
Who is most at risk of developing this rare blood clot / low platelet response from the J&J vaccine?
There are still too few cases to make concrete connections. “Revision of six is difficult to make generalizations of. We will carefully review our committee of experts, ”said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s chief deputy director, at a press conference on Tuesday. “The numbers are quite small, small enough to be difficult to generalize, but large enough to take action during the break.”
Some things the cases have so far in common: All six involved women between the ages of 18 and 48, who developed the clots within six to 13 days of getting the J&J shot. But it is far too early to say that women of a certain age are at higher risk than anyone else.
But again, these blood clots are still extremely rare, and it is not at all clear whether the vaccine caused these blood clots. Taking oral contraceptive pills and smoking cigarettes can also increase the risk of blood clots. “The likelihood of you getting a CVST can be caused by many, many more factors that people are exposed to than just this vaccine,” Panettieri said. ‘And don’t forget that this type of thrombosis occurs in five out of a million people anyway. So if you start vaccinating millions and millions of people, you’re going to get some people who would have just developed this anyway. ”
How long will the J&J recording be paused? What happens now?
Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the FDA, said this pause should only last “a matter of days” during a news conference Tuesday morning. This may change depending on “what we learn in the coming days,” she noted.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm ET to review matters, and this meeting is open to public inspection. Click here for more details about tuning; registration is not required.
It comes down to: If you’ve received the J&J vaccine, watch for the symptoms of this rare blood clot, including severe headache, stomach or leg pain, and shortness of breath within three weeks of getting your injection. But these blood clots are so rare – they are recorded in less than one in a million people who have received their J&J injections – that there is no need to panic or rush to cancel an upcoming J&J vaccination appointment. However, your vaccination site or local health department may reschedule appointments or swap J&J vaccines for other vaccines, so check with your vaccination site to see how this may affect your future appointment.
“The takeaway here is, the single most important thing people can do is get vaccinated,” Panettieri said. “If you don’t get vaccinated, you run such an increased risk of death from COVID or a serious risk from COVID that I wouldn’t be concerned about these isolated and very rare cases of blood clots.”