State Joins in Pause of J&J Vaccine
Dr. Lindsay Weaver is the chief medical officer for the Indiana State Department of Health.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana State Department of Health is pausing distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for COVID-19 across the state. The decision follows a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as they investigate cases of a rare blood clot reported in a small number of patients who received the vaccine.
A mass vaccination clinic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway scheduled to take place today through Saturday, as well as April 24-30, was originally slated to have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. However, the ISDH says the site will receive the Moderna vaccine instead.
During a news conference this morning, ISDH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver said more will be known in the coming days how the pause will impact Indiana in the long run.
“Of course, we need more vaccine here in Indiana. So, any time that we’re receiving less or don’t have the ability to give as much as we would like, then of course that may hurt our vaccine efforts,” said Weaver.
In a joint statement, the CDC and FDA said six of the nearly 7 million recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were reported to have a rare, but severe type of blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. Each case involved a woman between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms occurring six to 13 days after vaccination.
The CDC and FDA recommended a pause on administering the vaccine “out of an abundance of caution.”
“This is important, in part, to ensure that the health care provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan for proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot,” the statement said.
Since the Moderna vaccine is a two-dose vaccine, Weaver says plans will be made for those expecting to get the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine at IMS to get their second dose.
“We’re still figuring out the details of where that will be, but we’ll be offering the second dose, which is 28 days from now, somewhere here in Indianapolis and we are notifying everybody that’s coming through to be on the lookout for further information for that,” she said.
Weaver says the state does have access to more Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses, but they are waiting to see what recommendations come from the federal government regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before determining a plan for future mass vaccination clinics.
The ISDH says more than 125,000 Indiana residents have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to date.
“We really need people to get vaccinated, whichever vaccine that they have available to them,” said Weaver. “We are seeing an increase in our cases. We’re watching closely for an increase in hospitalizations. We know that the variants are here in Indiana and across the entire country. So please go ahead and get vaccinated.”