On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) held a meeting to discuss the matter of possibly issuing further restrictions on the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine, as blood clots continue to occur in patients who receive the shot, the New York Post reports.
The J&J vaccine was initially a popular choice among consumers seeking a COVID-19 vaccine, due to it being a single shot rather than two doses like its competitors Moderna and Pfizer. However, complications first arose in April after studies showed at least six women began to suffer from blood clots after getting the vaccine; this led to the J&J vaccine being temporarily halted before being allowed to resume just days later.
Since then, the number of patients who have developed blood clots from the vaccine has risen, and is especially prevalent among women. At least nine women in the United States have died after getting the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that one in every 100,000 women between the ages of 30 and 49 had developed some type of blood clot after taking the J&J vaccine.
The CDC’s meeting plans to hold votes on whether or not to issue further restrictions on the distribution of the J&J vaccine, as well as the booster shot, or otherwise make formal recommendations in favor of other vaccines instead.
Jake Sargent, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, issued a statement saying that the company is “committed to understanding and communicating all known risks, including rare events of [blood clots], and strongly support[s] raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of this rare event.”
Overall, there have been roughy 17 million doses of the J&J vaccine within the United States since the pandemic started. By contrast, there have been a collective total of 470 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.