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WASHINGTON– In yet another problem for Johnson & & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday limited its usage to adults who can not or decline to get the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, mentioning security issues.

The firm stated 60 cases of a major but uncommon blood-clotting disorder have been recognized, including 9 deaths, out of about 18 million dosages administered. The action comes about 5 months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines over Johnson & & Johnson’s for booster shots.

The F.D.A. stated that weighing the risks of Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine against the advantages, it had actually chosen to restrict its usage to grownups who can not access Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccines, or for whom those shots are not “scientifically proper.” One example would be people who experienced a severe allergic response to the other 2 vaccines, the agency said.

It stated the vaccine could also be given to grownups who “would otherwise not receive a Covid-19 vaccine.”

Johnson & & Johnson was eclipsed long ago by Pfizer and Moderna in the country’s vaccination project; federal officials have said the mRNA vaccines produced by those business are both much safer and more reliable. In a statement, Johnson & & Johnson said the F.D.A.’s action reflected the already-known threat of the negative effects, not new information on the rate at which it happens. In an indication of the firm’s own flagging interest in its vaccine, it has stopped supplying sales outlooks for the shot to financiers.

Reports that the vaccine can set off a condition referred to as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome have actually bedeviled it from early on. In April 2021, not long after it was approved for emergency use, federal authorities paused distribution of the vaccine for a safety examination. Regulators raised the time out 10 days later on however added an alerting to instructions for its use.

In December, the C.D.C. recommended that adults seeking a booster shot choose Moderna or Pfizer rather of Johnson & & Johnson, citing more benefits and lower dangers. Combined with a host of producing difficulties in the United States, some experts said, the company’s judgment highlighted that the federal government had actually all but written off Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine.

According to the F.D.A. statement on Thursday, federal authorities now have 60 reports of the blood-clotting condition– or 4 times as numerous as were reported when last year’s time out in circulation was raised. In the interim, the variety of Johnson & & Johnson doses administered has somewhat more than doubled, while the variety of Pfizer and Moderna receivers has increased.

The number of deaths credited to the condition activated by the Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine does not appear to have increased much, if at all. There have been far fewer, if any, believed deaths due to side effects from the mRNA vaccines, federal health officials have actually said.

In its statement, the F.D.A. mentioned more than six cases and near one death associated to the blood-clotting condition for every two million shots of Johnson & & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States.

About 17 million Americans have actually now gotten one dosage of Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine, and another 1.5 million have gotten a booster dose, according to the C.D.C.’s data. By contrast, more than 200 million Americans have actually gotten at least 2 doses of either Moderna’s or Pfizer’s vaccine.

Attempting to cast the tight brand-new constraints in a favorable light, Johnson & & Johnson stated: “Data continue to support a favorable benefit-risk profile for the Johnson & & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in grownups, when compared to no vaccine.”