Public health experts have recommended the resumption of using Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the United States after it ordered stoppage of immunizations to conduct an investigation on reports of rare blood clots.
According to a Business Insider report on Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee voted 10 to four, with one abstention, that the use of the vaccine should resume.
Health regulators in the US will warn those getting the vaccine that there is a danger of unusual clots in women below 50 years old.
In general, the panel said, the vaccine's benefits when it comes to the prevention of hospital admissions and deaths from COVID-19 far prevail over the risks.
A few experts said they thought the panel should have released an explicit caution to women below 50 years of age about the risk of clots.
Dr. Sarah Long, a committee member, said that she had 'no' for a vote as she thinks her panel should provide further guidance to younger women. She said that she thinks they have a responsibility to be sure that they know this underlying risk.
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Unlike the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is administered in one dose.
FDA to Update EUA for J&J COVID-19 Vaccine
The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use in February.
The FDA will then need to update the EUA for the vaccine with information cautioning about the danger of rare blood clots.
A similar Science Alert report said that the FDA has "already agreed to a new language" that the vaccine maker presented during a meeting. The case reports suggest an increased risk for CVST clots combined with low levels of platelet in people who have received the vaccine.
According to the precaution, based on presently available evidence, a causal association between thrombosis with thrombocytopenia and the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine labeled as Janssen is plausible. It also stressed that women aged 18 to 49 years might be at the highest risk for this condition.
J&J to Reintroduce the Vaccine for Awareness of Benefits
Public assurance and trust in the vaccine have dropped substantially in the week-and-a-half since the pause started. Based on the data presented to the advisory on Friday, only 19 percent of Americans would be willing to be injected with the J&J vaccine.
Representatives from Johnson & Johnson said the company's vaccine would be reintroduced as it holds up well as protection from virus variants that are spreading in the country.
The vaccine is given as a single shot as well and can be stored in regular refrigerators, making it easier to inject to people who are either homeless, homebound, scared of needles or incarcerated.
Prior to the federal pause, six percent of Americans, in general, said that they would prefer to get a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine, a factual statistic, regardless of age, income and gender of a person.
These unusual CVST clots in patients who have low platelet levels have not been profoundly associated in any way with the mRNA or messenger RNA vaccines from other companies like Moderna and Pfizer.
The J&J COVID-19 vaccine is substantially cheaper than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, making it an essential tool in combatting the virus globally.
Minus the vaccine, Dr. Sara Oliver from the CDC approximated that it would take 14 days longer to vaccinate all adults in the US.
Report on the resumption of use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is shown on CNN's YouTube video below:
RELATED ARTICLE: Johnson & Johnson Vaccine: Health Officials Call for Vaccination Pause Due to Rare Blood Clot Occurrences
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