A Mississippi man who developed a blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to speak, his family said.
Brad Malagarie, 43, of St. Martin, suffered a stroke shortly after leaving last week to get the one-time shot, news channel WLOX reported.
“They called me and said he had that vaccine and something is wrong, we think it’s a stroke,” his aunt, Celeste Foster O’Keefe, told the point of sale.
The father of seven was rushed to hospital, where they determined he had suffered a stroke due to a blood clot in his brain, the outlet reported.
“I said to tell the doctors he took that J&J vaccine and I think that’s the cause of his stroke,” his aunt said.
O’Keefe said he was on high blood pressure medication but was otherwise a “young, healthy” man.
Now the medical episode has paralyzed him on the right side of his body, she said.
‘He can’t talk now and he can’t walk. He is paralyzed on the right. He knows who we are and he will just cry when he sees us, ”said O’Keefe.
She said doctors don’t know how long it will take for him to recover.
“We want him to be able to communicate, walk and talk again, even if it’s not perfect,” said O’Keefe.
Federal regulators discontinued use of the one-time J&J injection on Tuesday after six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed blood clots, including one who died.
On Wednesday, the medicine man announced two more cases to recipients – including one man.
It is unclear whether the vaccination is linked to the rare cases of blood clotting that occurred in more than 7.2 million people who received the vaccine.
“The CDC and FDA are working quickly to investigate each case and understand whether there is a causal relationship between these blood clots and the administration of vaccines,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.