Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause causes clinic cancelation

A hold put on the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine resulted in the cancellation of the scheduled Wednesday, April 14 COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control issued a joint statement on Tuesday, April 13, which said that six cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot had been observed among those who had received the 6.8 million doses administered to date.

This clot, called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, according to the statement, occurred in six patients between the ages of 18 and 48, six to 13 days after receiving the vaccine. All six patients are female.

“Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare,” the statement reads. “COVID-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for the federal government, and we take all reports of health problems following COVID-19 vaccination very seriously.”

Those who experience symptoms of severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within a three-week period after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are being advised to contact their healthcare providers.

The CDC convened a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Wednesday to continue review of these cases, and any conclusions drawn from this meeting will be used in analysis and investigation by the FDA, according to the statement.

“Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this 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 Inquirer has reached out to Gonzales Healthcare Systems for comment regarding local recipients of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine but did not receive a response before publication time.

Vaccine Statistics

More than half (66.91%) of seniors aged 65 and up have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Gonzales County according to Department of State Health Services data.

Not too far behind, 55.32% of seniors over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated. For those age 16 and up, 26.96% are fully vaccinated, and 38.13% have received at least one injection of a vaccine.

This leaves 33.09% of seniors and 61.87% of those 16 and over who have not yet received an injection of the Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The proportion of vaccinated Gonzales County residents is increasing slowly, as more doses of vaccine become available.

COVID-19 Case Statistics

Over the last seven days, from Tuesday, April 6 to Tuesday, April 13, five new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county. There were four active cases of COVID-19 in the county as of Tuesday, April 13, with 2,620 recovered and 56 reported deaths. This comes to a total of 2,686 cases reported in the county since April 2020, according to DSHS data available to the Inquirer.

As for hospitalizations in Trauma Service Area P, 3.96% of hospital capacity was being used for treatment of patients with lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, April 13.

In Gonzales Independent School District there was one active case of COVID-19 among staff and students on Wednesday, April 14, with three cases reported in Waelder Independent School District and none in Nixon-Smiley Independent School District.

Information regarding vaccination clinics will be shared by the Inquirer on its Facebook page and website as it becomes available. Such information is also available on the Gonzales Healthcare Systems Facebook page and website, and the Gonzales County Emergency Management Facebook page and website.