US Suspends J&J Vaccinations to Investigate Rare Blood Clotting

The US is suspending vaccinations with the Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccine after six women (ages 18 to 48) who were vaccinated developed serious clots.  As of yesterday, 7.2 million vaccines produced by J&J have been administered in the US, so the link between the clotting and the vaccine is very rare if it exists. This has no effect on the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccinations since those companies use different processes.

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It’s going to be more like days to weeks, rather than weeks to months,” Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said Tuesday at a White House briefing. His remarks came hours after the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the break, citing six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot among the 6.8 million Americans who have received Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.

While this is a setback for US vaccinations, Joe Biden’s goal of 200 million vaccinations in his first 100 days should not be seriously impacted since the two other approved vaccines have more than enough doses already administered or delivered, 104.4 million of Moderna’s vaccine and 123.5 million of the Pfizer vaccine.

It is some comfort to see regulators keeping a close eye on the vaccinations and willing to halt them whenever there might be serious concerns. Public confidence in the vaccination program is critical.

And so, the CDC reports reports for yesterday shows 36.8% of the US public has received at least one shot. The percentage of American adults who have received a dose is 47%, and 79.2% of those over 65 have been injected at least once.

US Vaccinations by Age (Cumulative %)

Age           4/8                      4/9                          4/10                        4/11                  4/12

75>         77.0%                    77.5%                     77.8%                  78.0%                   78.2%

65-74      77.5%                   78.2%                      78.6%                  78.9%                   79.2%

50-64      49.6%                   50.8%                      51.8%                  52.6%                   53.2%

40-49      36.6%                   37.8%                     38.7%                   39.4%                   40.1%

30-39      30.6%                   31.7%                     32.6                      33.3%                   33.9%

29-18      21.2%                   22.2%                     23.1                      23.8%                   24.4%

<18          0.9%                       1.0%                      1.1                         1.2%                     1.2%

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