Physicians and health facilities should temporarily halt administering the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine following reports of blood clots in six people six to 13 days after receiving the vaccine.
No cases of blood clots have been reported in Texas, where more than 500,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).
“Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare and are being further evaluated to ensure vaccine safety,” DSHS said.
Physicians and facilities should continue to store the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the proper conditions, and should report all adverse events following any vaccination to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System.
“In these cases, a type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia),” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a health alert. “All six cases occurred among women aged 18-48 years. The interval from vaccine receipt to symptom onset ranged from 6-13 days. One patient died.”
The health alert also provides more detailed recommendations for physicians regarding evaluation, testing, and treatment of patients experiencing these thrombotic events following receipt of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Facilities should inform patients who recently received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to contact their physician if they develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination, DSHS said.
Physicians also should “maintain a high index of suspicion for symptoms that might represent serious thrombotic events or thrombocytopenia in patients who have recently received the … vaccine, including severe headache, backache, new neurologic symptoms, severe abdominal pain, shortness of breath, leg swelling, petechiae (tiny red spots on the skin), or new or easy bruising,” CDC said.
CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will host a virtual emergency meeting on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from 12:30 to 3:30 pm (CT) Wednesday, April 14.
As of April 12, almost 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Texas, and almost 6 million people are fully vaccinated, according to DSHS.
To help educate your patients on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, the Texas Medical Association has created a fact sheet you can print and use as a poster in your practice or share on your social media accounts.
The fact sheet is part of TMA’s Vaccines Defend What Matters, a multimedia public health education and advocacy campaign designed to help your patients understand the benefit of vaccines for people of all ages.
The campaign includes a social media toolkit that features a wide variety of downloadable and shareable materials – available in English and Spanish – to post to your social media channels.
TMA’s Vaccines Defend What Matters is funded in 2021 by the TMA Foundation thanks to major support from H-E-B, TMF Health Quality Institute, Cook Children’s Health Care System, and gifts from physicians and their families.