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

The company stated 60 cases of a major but rare blood-clotting condition have been identified, including 9 deaths, out of about 18 million dosages administered. The action happens five months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines over Johnson & & Johnson’s for booster shots.

The F.D.A. said that weighing the dangers of Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine against the benefits, it had decided to restrict its use to adults who can not access Pfizer’s or Moderna’s vaccines, or for whom those shots are not “scientifically appropriate.” One example would be people who experienced a severe allergic response to the other two vaccines, the firm said.

It said the vaccine might also be offered to grownups who “would otherwise not receive a Covid-19 vaccine.”

Johnson & & Johnson was eclipsed long back by Pfizer and Moderna in the nation’s vaccination campaign; federal officials have stated the mRNA vaccines produced by those companies are both much safer and more efficient. In a declaration, Johnson & & Johnson stated the F.D.A.’s action reflected the already-known threat of the adverse effects, not new data on the rate at which it happens. But in a sign 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 trigger a condition known as apoplexy with thrombocytopenia syndrome have actually bedeviled it from early on. In April 2021, not long after it was authorized for emergency usage, federal authorities paused distribution of the vaccine for a safety examination. Regulators raised the time out 10 days later however added a cautioning to guidelines for its usage.

Then, in December, the C.D.C. advised that grownups looking for a booster shot select Moderna or Pfizer rather of Johnson & & Johnson, mentioning more benefits and lower threats. Paired with a host of making troubles in the United States, some experts said, the agency’s judgment illustrated that the federal government had actually 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 disorder– or four times as many as were reported when last year’s pause in circulation was raised. In the interim, the variety of Johnson & & Johnson dosages administered has slightly more than doubled, while the number of Pfizer and Moderna recipients has actually escalated.

The number of deaths credited to the disorder set off by the Johnson & & Johnson’s vaccine does not appear to have actually increased much, if at all. But there have actually been far fewer, if any, presumed 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 credited to the blood-clotting condition for every single two million shots of Johnson & & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States.

About 17 million Americans have now gotten one dose 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 dosages of either Moderna’s or Pfizer’s vaccine.

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