Staying Fit
The pause on distributing Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, announced Tuesday following reports of rare blood clots forming in a small group of vaccinated women, throws a wrench into plans of hundreds of thousands of Americans who were scheduled to be inoculated with the one-dose shot.
State and local health departments scrambled to pull the J&J vaccine from distribution in the hours following the announcement, issued jointly on Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State and local officials got little if any notice that the guidance was coming, and even White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said he was only made aware of it hours before it went public.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
"I wish that we had more time to get everyone prepared and that this could go even more smoothly,” acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock told reporters, describing the blood clots she and her colleagues are investigating as “extremely rare” but worthy of a closer inspection “out of an abundance of caution."
If you were already scheduled to get a J&J vaccine, you'll likely need to reschedule and prepare to receive one of the two-dose vaccines authorized for use in the U.S from Pfizer or Moderna. The FDA and CDC say they won't stop health care professionals from administering a J&J vaccine to a patient after talking through the risks and unknowns. But many state and local health departments have for now effectively withdrawn J&J's vaccine from circulation.