May 13 2021 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that more than a dozen cases of blood clots have been detected after being vaccinated against Johnson and Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, bringing the number of people with the condition to 28, most of them women.
The CDC says a total of 28 of the more than 8.7 million Johnson and Johnson vaccinators in the U.S. have been confirmed to have thrombosis and platelet reduction. Of these 28 cases, the majority were women aged 18 to 49, and among female vaccinators aged 30 to 39, the risk of developing these symptoms was 12.4 per million and 9.4 per million women aged 40 to 49. Symptoms usually appear within a few to two weeks of vaccination.
According to the CDC, there “appears to be a causal link” between getting the Johnson vaccine and developing the condition. As of April 25, the CDC had found 17 cases of thrombosis among nearly 8 million Johnson and Johnson vaccinators. The number of cases has now risen to 28, of which three have died.
However, CDC official Sarah Oliver says the benefits of vaccinations still far outweigh the risks and there will be no changes to vaccination policies.
On April 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a moratorium on the vaccine in light of reports of rare cases of severe blood clots following the Johnson-Johnson coronavirus vaccine. Ten days later, the two agencies decided to resume use of the vaccine.
The two agencies said on April 23rd that available data showed that the “known and potential benefits” of the Johnson-Johnson coronavirus vaccine for groups 18 and older were greater than their known and potential risks, and that the likeness of such adverse reactions was extremely low, but that the two agencies would continue to investigate and assess their risks.
The CDC also said on May 12 that rare cases of thrombosis after being vaccinated against Johnson and Johnson were similar to those reported by European AstraZeneca vaccinators.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in the UNITED Kingdom in collaboration with Oxford University, has not yet been approved for emergency use in the United States by the FDA. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine, developed by Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals, was approved for emergency use in the United States on February 27 this year, requiring only one dose.
