(Photo : Photo by Rajesh JANTILAL / AFP) (Photo by RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)
Doses containing J&J vaccines to be administered is seen ahead of the launch of the VaxuMzansi National Vaccine Day Campaign at the Gandhi Phoenix Settlement in Bhambayi township, north of Durban , on September 24, 2021. - The campaign launched by the Religious Forum Against Covid-19 (RFA) is an inter-faith collaboration of various religious communities standing together to fight the spread of the pandemic. The campaign aims to encourage congregations and followers to vaccinate with a sense of urgency to increase vaccine uptake.
An advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said that people should avoid getting the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine if there are supplies of Moderna and Pfizer after the J&J vaccine has been attributed to a recent string of rare blood clot cases.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices convened after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an update on the risk of the rare condition. The case is believed to be potentially life-threatening.
Rare Blood Clot Cases
Authorities revealed that at least 54 people in the United States, the majority of whom are women, have been admitted to hospitals due to blood clot conditions, and nine were found to have died. The panel unanimously voted to declare the mRNA vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer as the "preferred" options for adults.
The panel concluded that the two vaccines offered greater protection against the coronavirus and fewer risks compared to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. While the recommendation does not suspend the use of the J&J vaccine, it states that alternatives are better choices if they are available and in supply, NBC News reported.
The CDC said that the blood clot cases are extremely rare, only being seen in roughly one out of every 100,000 doses given to women aged 30 to 49 years. However, authorities said that the age group is at the highest risk of the condition.
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The blood clot is called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) and kills about 15% of affected individuals, based on CDC data. Medical professionals said that symptoms of the condition vary from person to person but typically include headaches, blurred vision, fainting or loss of consciousness, loss of control over movement in parts of the body, and seizures.
The CDC and the FDA in April recommended temporarily pausing the use of the J&J vaccine after six people in the United States were found to have developed the rare blood clot condition. The two agencies rescinded the pause after a month when an analysis of available data showed that the vaccine's benefits far outweigh the risks, NPR reported.
Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
Since the FDA approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in February, the United States has administered more than 17 million doses of the treatment across the country. In the country, there have been 3.8 TTS cases reported for every million doses administered, based on CDC data.
The CDC's recent recommendation is the latest blow to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine's credibility among Americans. The chair of the CDC's vaccine and safety subgroup, Dr. Keipp Talbot, told the advisory panel that TTS case reporting rates after J&J shots were higher than previous estimates in men as well as women in a wider age range.
Among the nine fatalities, seven were women and the remaining two were men with a median age of 45 years. The majority of the people who died had various underlying health conditions, including obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, CNBC reported.
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