The US Pauses the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

Lately, it has become very clear that COVID-19 vaccines will play a large role in restarting travel and will likely be required by certain destinations as well as for getting on the aeroplanes. 

The US has approved three vaccines for emergency use: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on April 13 that it recommended pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after adverse effects were reported.

There are also several more vaccines either in development or available worldwide, such as AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom, the Sputnik V in Russia and China’s CoronaVac. 

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients says a recommended pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine will not have a significant impact on the country’s vaccination plan and was taken out of “an abundance of caution”.

“This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan: Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5 per cent of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date,” Mr Zients said.

The US’ top infectious diseases advisor Dr Anthony Fauci, speaking at a White House press conference stressed that Americans should not feel anxious if they have had the vaccine.

“If you look at the timeframe when this occurs it is pretty tight, six to 13 days from the vaccination,” Dr Fauci said.

Earlier on Tuesday, US federal health agencies recommended pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine after six women under 50 developed rare blood clots since receiving the shot.

All six cases involved women between the ages of 18 and 48, and the symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination.

According to figures from the CDC, more than 120 million Americans have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 74 million have been fully vaccinated. 

People in the US do not have a choice in which vaccination they receive when it’s their turn in line if they opt for the vaccination at their local health department. However, they can shop around for a vaccine appointment at various pharmacies, some of which such as Walmart and CVS will tell them which vaccine they are giving when they make their appointment.

No matter which vaccine they get, when they get it will determine when they can travel again. 

By Joe Cusmano