WASHINGTON – Vaccine advisers to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted unanimously yesterday to recommend the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines be preferred over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to very rare but dangerous blood clot risk.
A total of 54 cases of thrombosis-thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a rare and severe type of blood clot, has been reported from March through August in the US out of 14.1 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses administered, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing data presented by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices.
The highest rates, nearly 20%, involved recipients aged between 30 to 49. A total of 26 cases are women aged under 50. About 80% of the cases occurred in white non-Hispanic persons, according to CDC data.
A total of nine deaths from the TTS had been reported up to December 9, seven women and two men. All of them were non-Hispanic whites, the CDC data showed.
The death reporting rate was 0.57 fatalities per million doses administered, according to the CDC.
The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine has been linked to TTS and its use was halted for 10 days in April. The pause was lifted after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a safety review.
Back then, the FDA and the CDC had determined the available data show that the vaccine’s known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older.
The majority of Covid-19 vaccines administered in the US are Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, with about 284 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses and 186.4 million Moderna doses administered by December 15, according to CDC data.
About 17.2 million Johnson & Johnson shots have been administered since it was approved for emergency use in the US in late February, CDC data shows. – Bernama, December 17, 2021
