Tag: Pausing

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Surgeon says pausing J&J vaccine for youthful populations is sensible, however could possibly be lifted for older age teams

Dr. Atul Gawande said he “thinks something special is going on here” when it comes to blood clotting and Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 single-dose vaccine.

“We have an unusual type of clotting syndrome, very specific to these vaccines, in women in the younger age group, and it’s not like the other cases where these rare incidents happen. I think there are probably adenovirus vaccines. A some risk for this rare disease, which is increased in a certain age group, “said Gawande.

Experts from a panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to postpone a decision on the use of J & J’s single-dose Covid vaccine on Wednesday. They found they needed more time to assess the data and risks.

The meeting comes a day after federal health officials advised the US to temporarily suspend use of J & J’s single-dose vaccine as a “caution” after six women out of approximately 6.9 million people who received the shot reported getting heavy blood clots. Due to the postponement of the vote, the pause remains in force for the time being.

Gawande, a surgeon and professor at TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard, said he thought the J&J vaccine hiatus made sense for younger populations, and he also thought it could be lifted for older age groups.

“I think there is enough information to know that this is safe for people over 50 and I think they could possibly have left the break for the older age group,” Gawande said on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” . “I think this could end up here like you saw for AstraZeneca in Europe.”

More than 7.2 million J&J doses have been administered nationwide, and the vaccine is responsible for 9.5% of the roughly 75 million Americans who are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

Gawande noted that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine supply can be used to contain the increase in cases in states in the United States. He told host Shepard Smith that he was in favor of increasing the second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to two, four, six weeks “in order to double the number of people currently vaccinated.

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Pausing use of J&J Covid vaccine is not going to have an effect on timeline of getting U.S. vaccinated, says physician

Pausing use of J&J Covid vaccine will not affect timeline of getting U.S. vaccinated, says doctor

America’s temporary hiatus from using Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine Covid-19 will not affect President Joe Biden’s goal of bringing the nation to a semblance of normalcy by Independence Day, said the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health on Tuesday.

“I think this is going to be a blip on the calendar when it comes to getting Americans vaccinated,” said Dr. Ashish Jha. “I don’t think it will affect the timeline at all.”

Federal health officials advised on Tuesday that the US should temporarily stop using J & J’s single-dose vaccine after six of the roughly 6.9 million people who received the shot reported severe blood clots. The blood clots occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48 years. One woman died and another is in critical condition. They all developed symptoms 6 to 13 days after the shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

Jha told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that the precautionary measures are evidence that “the system is working” and that the government’s swift action could counter the hesitation of the vaccine.

“I hope that it actually builds trust in people, that we don’t take adverse events lightly and investigate them, and that we really make sure that these vaccines are very, very safe.”

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, reiterated that the break is “out of caution” and will give health officials time to investigate.

“You want to make sure that security is the important issue here,” Fauci said during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday. “We are fully aware that this is a very rare occurrence. We want this to work as soon as possible.”

Jha told host Shepard Smith that he “expects the break to be days, not much longer,” reiterating Fauci’s claim about the rarity of blood clots.

“The key point here is that this is an incredibly rare, adverse event,” said Jha. “It won’t affect very many people and I think, out of caution, we’ll just pause to see what else we can find out about it.”

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Pausing J&J Covid vaccine may have far reaching results: Dr. Kavita Patel

U.S. states face steep decline in J&J vaccine

Dr. Kavita Patel told CNBC on Tuesday that she believes the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation that states stop using Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid vaccine is likely to have a lasting impact on the country’s efforts to fight the pandemic.

“This is a devastating blow to this J&J vaccination effort in the US,” said Patel, a family doctor in Washington, DC, in an interview on Squawk Box. She also worked on health initiatives in the Obama administration while serving as director of policy for the Bureau of Interstate Affairs and Public Engagement.

Patel said the supply of Pfizer and Moderna’s two-shot vaccines will not be able to quickly meet the demand caused by the J&J hiatus. This will delay US vaccination efforts, she added.

The FDA recommendation, released Tuesday, came after six people in the US experienced rare and severe blood clotting problems after receiving the J&J vaccine.

In a tweet, the US regulator said its actions were taken “out of caution”.

All six cases occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48, with symptoms developing six to 13 days after receiving the shot.

So far, J&J has said that there is “no clear causal link” between these rare events and the vaccine. The US drug giant also said it was working with regulators.

While she anticipates that Moderna and Pfizer will at some point be able to “fill some of that void,” said Patel, “it will be some time” before these other vaccine manufacturers have additional doses available in the US

A particular challenge in discontinuing the administration of J & J’s vaccine is that it only requires a single shot, while Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines require two doses for complete protection of immunity.

“We just can’t replace it for the next week or three,” said Patel, a medical assistant for NBC News and a non-resident of the Brookings Institution. “This will delay our vaccination efforts.”

To compensate for this, the US could consider reducing second-dose administration to recipients of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Patel suggested.

The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has spoken out against requests earlier in the pandemic.

The second dose of Moderna is supposed to be given four weeks after the first, while Pfizer is three weeks apart.

“You will hear a renewal for calls to delay that second shot so we can get that many first shots in the arms. It’s not an unreasonable thing to think about now,” said Patel.

“If we postpone the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer for a week or two, it might actually help us fill some of that void faster,” she added.