Countries Halt Johnson & Johnson Over Rare Bloodclot

The US, South Africa and European Union will temporarily stop the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid jab, after reports of rare blood clotting.

Six cases were detected in more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

It follows similar cases after doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which prompted curbs to its use.

All six cases were in women aged between 18 and 48, with symptoms appearing six to 13 days after vaccination.

Johnson & Johnson is a US health care company, but the vaccine was developed mainly by its pharmaceutical branch in Belgium, and is also known as Janssen. The J&J vaccine has been administered to nearly seven million people in the US, which is around 3% of the total immunisations given so far.

South Africa, which was the first country to administer the vaccine, has also paused its use, although no cases of blood clots have been reported in the country.

The jab became the preferred vaccine there after studies showed it had a higher protection rate against the South African variant than other jabs.

However deliveries of the vaccine to EU countries started just 24 hours before J&J said it would pause the European rollout.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is yet to be approved in the UK, although 30 million doses are on pre-order. The Department of Health said the rollout delay would not affect vaccine supplies in the UK, or derail the aim to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July.

Canada has pre-ordered 10 million doses of the vaccine, and is “still on track” to receive the first shipment by the end of the month, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In a joint statement, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they were “reviewing data involving six reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the J&J vaccine”.

Pending a further review, the FDA and CDC recommended “a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution”.

The joint statement said that “people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider”.