The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is pausing administration of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, following CDC and FDA recommendations.
On Thursday, April 8th, DHHS, the Douglas County Health Department, and Nebraska Medicine consulted with CDC and FDA about a rare and severe type of blood clot diagnosed in a Nebraska resident. On Tuesday, April 13th, CDC and FDA released a joint statement recommending a pause on Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccinations nationwide while more investigation is completed.
Vaccine safety is closely monitored by healthcare providers and local, state, and federal partners. While only six instances of this severe clotting event have been identified among approximately 6.8 million who have received the J&J/Janssen vaccine across the US, the pause is a transparent and deliberate decision to allow time for a thorough review and investigation.
DHHS is communicating the pause to local health departments, healthcare providers, and pharmacies across the state. Any potential adverse reactions to vaccines should be reported into the CDC’s vaccine adverse events reporting system (VAERS, https://vaers.hhs.gov/).
Please note that at this time there are no recommendations to pause the use of the other two vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna. These two vaccines should be provided in place of the Johnson and Johnson /Janssen vaccine until further notice.
For more information, see the official FDA-CDC release: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/joint-cdc-and-fda-statement-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine
