The FDA recommends temporarily suspending vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson formula against the coronavirus after six cases of thrombosis in the United States

US suspends Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccination on FDA recommendation, after registration six cases of thrombosis among the 6.8 million doses applied in the country.

Health regulators will have a meeting this Wednesday to analyze the data. “Until this process is complete, we recommend this break. This is important to ensure that the healthcare provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan the one-time treatment required with these types of blood clots, ”the FDA said in a statement.

The agency detailed that the six cases detected are “of a rare and severe type of blood clot in people after receiving the vaccine”, which so far are “extremely rare”.

Federal distribution channels, including mass vaccination centers, will temporarily stop using the drug, and states and other providers are expected to do the same. It is a precautionary measure to confirm whether or not there is a link between the formula and cases of thrombosis.

All cases detected, associated with low platelet count, are patients aged 18 to 48, and symptoms were recorded between 6 and 13 days after vaccination. One of the patients died in Nebraska and another is hospitalized in critical condition.

The authorities have also warned that the treatment is different from that usually applied for coagulation: heparin can be dangerous in these cases. Coagulation is not listed among the side effects of the vaccine, which include possible headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks of inoculation. Anyone with any of these images should contact their doctor.

Europe has experienced similar thrombotic events with the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine. So far, researchers have not ruled out a link to the vaccine, possibly an immune system reaction, but have noted that the benefits of the doses continue to outweigh the risks, especially in the elderly. . A few days ago, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was already investigating whether there was a relationship between the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and clot formation, days before it started. to be applied on the Old Continent.

Pharmaceutical company Janssen, part of the Johnson & Johnson conglomerate, began deliveries to all European Union countries of its vaccine on Monday. 55 million doses should be distributed to the 27 members of the bloc between April and June, confirmed the European Commission. In the case of Spain, the first 300,000 vaccines will be applied in the age group between 70 and 79 years. Indeed, the country currently uses the Pfizer formula for those over 80 and that of AstraZeneca only for those under 65.

J & J’s vaccine, like AstraZeneca’s, works on viral vector technology. As the CDC explains, “They contain a modified version of another virus (the vector) to give important instructions to our cells.”

In the United States, one of the countries with the highest levels of covid-19 vaccination in the world, in addition to the J&J vaccine, sera created by Pfizer and Moderna are administered, which use mRNA technology . However, J & J’s formula has the advantage of requiring only one dose.

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