Peterson Health cancelling Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Clinic

Peterson Health announced Tuesday that they are following the recommendations of the FDA and the CDC and will be cancelling the April 16 vaccine clinic. Decisions regarding the upcoming April 22 clinic will be made as more information becomes available.

The US Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration are recommending that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine over six reported US cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot. The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States.

The blood clots reported in the six cases are known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis; in all cases, the clots were seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets, a condition known as thrombocytopenia. All occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, according to the CDC and the FDA.

All of the women developed the condition within about two weeks of vaccination, and government officials are concerned that an immune system response triggered by the vaccine was the cause.

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson said it is working closely with health authorities and medical experts to investigate the issue. It also announced it would delay the rollout of the vaccine in Europe.

The investigation into the Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes at a critical time for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. An emergency meeting of the CDC’s outside advisory committee has been scheduled for Wednesday.

The vast majority of the nation’s vaccine supply comes from two other manufacturers, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which together deliver more than 23 million doses a week of their two-shot vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was is considered to be easier to ship and store than the other two, which must be stored at extremely low temperatures.

Johnson & Johnson issued a statement saying:

“We are aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with COVID-19 vaccines. At present, no clear casual relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine.”