By David Beard, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A good portion of Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing from the Capitol was taken up with the national pause placed on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after a blood-clotting issue arose among six women who’d had the vaccine.
COVID-19 Czar Clay Marsh reviewed the CDC’s and FDA’s explanation of the pause. More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered, but the agencies are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot. All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6-to-13 days after vaccination.
Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered. Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given.
CDC planned to convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases…
