US pauses Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine after links to blood clot deaths

The US is recommending a “pause” in administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially deadly blood clots.

In a joint statement, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said they were investigating clots in six women in the days after vaccination, in combination with reduced platelet counts.

All six recipients are understood to be women between the ages of 18 and 48.

Janet Woodcock, acting FDA Commissioner, said the pause will likely last “a couple of days”.

The US has already vaccinated more than 7m people with the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine, indicating the rarity of developing the blood clot disorder.

President Joe Biden has ordered 200m doses of the single-shot vaccine in total, half of which have already been delivered.

While the move is framed as a recommendation to doctors and nurses in the states, the federal government will stop giving out the vaccine at all federally run vaccination sites. Federal officials expect that state health officials will take that as a strong signal to do the same.

White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said the decision to pause the rollout was taken out of “an abundance of caution” and will not have a significant impact on the country’s vaccination plan.

The US has already made huge strides with its vaccination programme, with around 36 per cent of the population having received a first dose so far.

Just five per cent of those have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with the bulk of Americans so far injected with the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.

It follows a number of countries restricting the use of the Astrazeneca Covid vaccine in certain age groups because of similar blood clotting issues in a very small number of recipients.

The UK medicines regulator last week announced a surprise course change to its vaccine programme, recommending all under-30s seek an alternative to the Astrazeneca jab over possible blood clot links.

Ministers signalled they were keen to proffer Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as a “jab and go” alternative for millennials. The vaccine is under review by British regulators and has not yet been approved.

However, Professor Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said today that the UK will need to look “very carefully” at data emerging from the US around the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“As you know we are not using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in this country at the moment because we have a portfolio of vaccines which are alternative to that, but of course we need to carrying on looking in detail at the emerging data from the Astrazeneca vaccine,” he said.

Yesterday, Australia said it would no longer look to purchase the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it “is an adenovirus vaccine, the same type of vaccine as the Astrazeneca vaccine” which the country placed restrictions on for under-50s last week.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Peter Marks, director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said reports of blood clots in the Johnson & Johnson jab looked “very similar” to those related to the Astrazeneca vaccine.