Administration of J&J Coronavirus Vaccine Halted as US Panel Delays Vote On its Resumption

NEW DELHI: Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is temporarily not being administered to the public and extensive research is being conducted by a panel in the US to verify whether it is safe and risk-free to be made further available to the public. 

The vaccine has been put off to vote by a week or more on Wednesday after a US-based health panel wanted more data backing to authenticate the resumption of the one-shot dose of the vaccine.  

This decision to review the COVID 19 vaccine comes after six cases of a rare blood clot disease had been reported in women following which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory panels had decided to delay the vote and investigate how to mitigate the risk associated with the vaccine. Both the agencies after halting the administration of the vaccine are extensively reviewing the six cases of blood clotting in the women. Out of the six women, three remain hospitalized and one died. 

Dr. Lynn Batha, an epidemiologist at the Minnesota health department, and several like the FDA's deputy director for vaccine development, Doran Fink spoke in favor of extending the pause in the administration of the vaccine so as to allow doctors to weigh the risks and benefits of the vaccine and gather more safety information. 

There were other medical experts who showed their concerns over the delay like Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a representative of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, who opines that the extension of the pause will invariably result in the fact that the most vulnerable individuals in the United States will remain vulnerable. Dr. Beth Bell, a global health expert at the University of Washington feels that this would portray to the world that something is fundamentally wrong with the vaccine whereas the risks associated with this vaccine s extremely low. 

Out of the 7.2 million doses of the J&J vaccine administered in the United States, only 50 cases of the rare blood clot also knows as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) came to light, meaning that the risks are extremely low. 

Similarly, AstraZeneca's covid-19 vaccine Covishield and Covaxin manufactured in India, as per the reports European Medicines Agency has possible links with the same rare blood clot disease knows as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). Europe has recorded 222 such cases of CVST amongst the 34 million people who have been administered the vaccine until April 4th. This condition has resulted in the deaths of 18 people as of March 22. 

Following the reports from the various European Medical Agencies, many countries like South Korea, the Philippines, and the Netherlands have suspended the use of AstraZeneca's covid-19 vaccine to people under 60 years of age. Countries like Canada, France and Spain, and Italy set up a minimum age for the administration of the virus. Australia suggested the people under 50 get Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine instead of AstraZeneca's.

Although the European Medicines Agency found a possible link between AstraZeneca's covid-19 vaccines and the blood clotting disorder, they also emphasized that the vaccine's advantages outweighed the risks. The vaccine is largely considered to be safe and 79% effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 and very beneficial for the treatment of critical hospitalized patients. As compared to the other vaccines, it is cheaper and easy to store.

Also read- Post Blood Clot Concern, Covishield & Covaxin Vaccines to be Reviewed by India

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