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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 15, 2021)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2021 Johnson & Johnson vaccine paused By AIMEE GREEN and KALE WILLIAMS The Oregonian Oregon public health offi cials Tuesday announced the immediate suspension of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine as the Food and Drug Administra- tion recommended putting a “pause” on the treatment over rare health concerns. “Oregon Health Author- ity has asked all of the state’s vaccine providers to imme- diately stop administering the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, per the announce- ment from the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and FDA this morning,” the agency said in a statement. “This is out of an abundance of cau- tion as they review six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in women ages 18-48 after vaccination.” The six cases came among nearly 7 million peo- ple who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to federal offi - cials. One person died and another is in critical condi- tion, according to an FDA offi cial. Some experts worry that the news will embolden the anti-vax movement. Dr. Paul Cieslak, a senior health adviser at the Oregon Health Authority, is concerned. “This may give them some additional fuel,” Cieslak said. “But I want to point that this was about one in a million vaccine doses administered and we still don’t know whether the vac- cine was causally related to these side eff ects.” On Tuesday, President Joe Biden declared that even with a temporary loss of Johnson & Johnson’s one- shot vaccine, there is a huge supply of Pfi zer and Mod- erna vaccines, enough that “is basically 100% unques- tionable, for every single solitary American.” Patrick Semansky/AP Photo Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks alongside White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients during a press briefi ng at the White House on Tuesday. The advisory by the FDA and CDC — citing a need to investigate reports of rare but potentially dan- gerous blood clots — was “testimony to how seri- ously we take safety,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious dis- ease expert. In the opening months of his presidency, Biden has put top priority on a robust response to the virus that has killed 559,000 Americans, with a vaccine campaign in which nearly 50% of adults have received at least one shot. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immuniza- tion Practices was set to meet Wednesday to delve into the cases of blood clots and “assess their poten- tial signifi cance,” accord- ing to the CDC and FDA’s ‘I THINK WE WILL KNOW WITHIN A COUPLE OF DAYS WHETHER THE PAUSE IS GOING TO BE MORE OR LESS INDEFINITE OR WHETHER WE’LL GET THE GREEN LIGHT.’ Dr. Paul Cieslak | senior health adviser at the Oregon Health Authority statement. “I think we will know within a couple of days whether the pause is going to be more or less indefi - nite or whether we’ll get the green light,” Cieslak said. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine received emergency use authorization in the U.S. from the FDA in late Febru- ary with great fanfare, with hopes that its single-dose and relatively simple stor- age requirements would speed vaccinations across the country. The Pfi zer and Moderna vaccines were not aff ected by Tuesday’s pause. More than 85,000 Ore- gonians have received the one-shot Johnson & John- son vaccine, and the fed- eral government shipped the state 124,400 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week for a total of about 213,000 received. Oregon Health Authority spokes- man Tim Heider said the state has distributed the vac- cine to 225 locations state- wide, and told vaccination providers to hold onto what they have for now. The vac- cine can be safely stored at between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit for up to three months, according to John- son & Johnson. Heider said it’s too early to say how the halt in vac- cinations will aff ect the longterm timelines for get- ting the vast majority of Ore- gon’s population vaccinated. At least immediately, the pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccinations isn’t expected to dramatically hinder the pace, beyond a slowdown that already was expected. Offi cials recently announced they were plan- ning to give far fewer doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over the next few weeks, after problems pro- ducing the vaccine in the U.S. and limitations pro- ducing it overseas resulted in huge cutbacks in federal shipments to states. Oregon received 7,300 doses this week and was expecting about 2,000 next week, although numbers weren’t yet available for additional doses that also might be sent to pharmacies through the federal retail pharmacy program this week and next. In a joint statement Tues- day, the CDC and FDA said they were investigating clots in the women who showed symptoms six to 13 days after vaccination. The clots were observed along with reduced platelet counts — making the usual treatment for blood clots, the blood thinner heparin, potentially “dangerous.” According to the Ore- gon Health Authority, none of the six women were from Oregon. Johnson & Johnson issued a statement advising people who’ve received its vaccine to contact a health care provider if they expe- rience symptoms of blood clots — including head- ache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks of their vaccinations. Cieslak said people should be on the lookout for a severe headache and not just a mild one. He said even women who’ve received the vaccine should know they’re at “very low risk” for blood clots. Johnson & Johnson also said it was halting the roll- out of its vaccine in Europe, where several countries were planning to start administer- ing the vaccine within days. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Spring is Here... Are you ready? 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