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

The company stated 60 cases of a rare however serious blood-clotting disorder have been determined, consisting of nine deaths, out of about 18 million dosages administered. The action happens five months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised 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 decided to limit its use 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 individuals who experienced an extreme allergic response to the other two vaccines, the company stated.

It said the vaccine could also be given to grownups who “would otherwise not get 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 companies are both much safer and more effective. In a declaration, Johnson & & Johnson stated the F.D.A.’s action showed the already-known threat of the negative effects, not brand-new data on the rate at which it happens. However in an indication of the company’s own flagging interest in its vaccine, it has stopped offering sales outlooks for the shot to investors.

Reports that the vaccine can activate a condition known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome have bedeviled it from early on. In April 2021, not long after it was approved for emergency situation usage, federal authorities paused circulation of the vaccine for a safety assessment. Regulators lifted the pause 10 days later on however included an alerting to guidelines for its usage.

In December, the C.D.C. advised that adults seeking a booster shot pick Moderna or Pfizer instead of Johnson & & Johnson, pointing out more benefits and lower dangers. Combined with a host of making troubles in the United States, some professionals stated, the firm’s judgment showed that the federal government had all however crossed out Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine.

According to the F.D.A. announcement on Thursday, federal authorities now have 60 reports of the blood-clotting condition– or 4 times as many as were reported when last year’s time out in distribution was raised. In the interim, the variety of Johnson & & Johnson dosages administered has a little more than doubled, while the variety of Pfizer and Moderna recipients has escalated.

The number of deaths credited to the condition activated by the Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine does not appear to have actually increased much, if at all. But there have been far fewer, if any, suspected deaths due to adverse effects from the mRNA vaccines, federal health authorities have stated.

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

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

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