More Americans are likely to refuse to receive Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after U.S. health officials said six women developed a rare blood clotting disorder that left one dead and one in critical condition. experts in public health and vaccines told CNBC on Tuesday.
The Food and Drug Administration urged states early Tuesday to temporarily halt the use of the J&J single-shot vaccine “out of an abundance of precaution” after six women, ages 18 to 48, of about 6.9 million of people who received the shot developed a coagulation disorder known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis or CVST.
All women have developed the condition, which occurs when a blood clot forms in the venous sinuses of the brain, preventing blood from flowing from the brain back into the heart within about two weeks of receiving the shot, reporters said in a call. .
“For people who have recently received the vaccine in the last two weeks, they should be aware of any symptoms,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, deputy director general of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference Tuesday . “If you have received the vaccine and have developed severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or difficulty breathing, you should contact your healthcare provider and seek medical treatment.”
Shortly after the FDA issued the warning, more than a dozen states and some pharmacies took steps to stop inoculations with the J&J vaccine, some replacing scheduled appointments with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Some doctors say they are already making calls from worried patients.
People were already skeptical about vaccines before the coronavirus emerged as a new pathogen in China in December 2019, infecting more than 31.2 million Americans and killing at least 562,718 in just over a year. The warning from US health officials to states is likely to fuel even more hesitation in taking shots at J&J and other vaccines, threatening to stop the nation’s recovery from the pandemic, health experts told CNBC.
“Unfortunately, it will probably exacerbate those who have some degree of hesitation when it comes to administering a vaccine,” said Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist who has served on several data and health monitoring boards. drug safety. “Senior public health officials need to continue to be open, honest, transparent and, most importantly, contextualise that this is a low risk.”
The goal, according to President Joe Biden’s chief medical officer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, is to vaccinate between 70 percent and 85 percent of the U.S. population – or about 232 to 281 million people – to get herd immunity and suppress the pandemic.
To date, more than 120 million Americans, or 36% of the total US population, have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to data compiled by the CDC. About 74 million Americans, or 22% of the total US population, are completely vaccinated, according to the CDC. Children under the age of 16 are not yet allowed in the United States to take pictures, and some adults will probably refuse to receive a vaccine.
“This throws a key into the plans. It will slow down implementation,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Berman Institute for Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. “People will say, ‘I don’t want him, I want one of the others who doesn’t have this problem,’ even though it’s an extraordinarily rare event.”
Some Americans, especially in black, Hispanic, and rural communities, have already been reluctant to receive the J&J vaccine, especially because they perceived it as inferior to Pfizer and Moderna. Shooting J&J, which is extremely effective, especially against severe diseases, has been shown to be 72% effective in the US in protecting against Covid about a month after inoculation. This compares with approximately 95% efficacy of the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Single-dose vaccines, such as J&J, have been crucial in reaching communities where a two-dose regimen was not practical or even impossible, Kahn said. U.S. health officials used the J&J vaccine extensively to reach poorer urban and rural areas, where residents could not easily reach a vaccine clinic or have access to reliable internet.
“Those communities are also the hardest hit by Covid,” Kahn said. “Discontinue use of J&J [is] a shot to do this efficiently and quickly. “
Dr. Stephen Schrantz, who was part of the team that led a J&J vaccine study at the University of Chicago Medicine, said he already has patients who don’t want the J&J vaccine and said the news will give them additional evidence to say: “See, I told you.”
“I suspect that the launch and absorption of the vaccine will slow down, there will be a migration away from the J&J vaccine, even if the CDC and FDA conclude that there is no causal relationship,” he said. “And as the wearing of the mask decreases, we may begin to see more cases, such as those in Michigan, appearing elsewhere.”
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who is on Pfizer’s board of directors, predicted that the move would “fuel the hesitation” of some people to get a Covid vaccine.
“Even if there is no causal relationship, even if this is extremely rare, I think we will see that the whole conversation will now ignite on social networks,” he told CNBC in an interview.
Dr. Purvi Parikh, a specialist in allergies and infectious disease immunology at NYU Langone Health, called the FDA on Tuesday warning of a “double-edged sword,” saying it would likely add concern to already hesitant Americans. She also said she had already received “panic calls” from her own patients about the J&J vaccine.
“But if there is anything, again, I want to reiterate: this gives me more confidence in our system, because these checks and balances work. So we hope it gives some people peace of mind,” she added. Squawk on the Street ”. “Again, just to look at the big picture, the benefits far outweigh the risks of this vaccination.
Dr. Archana Chatterjee, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and a member of the FDA’s Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products, echoed Parikh’s remarks. She added that there was nothing “unusual” in the way US health regulators approached the issue.
“This is a normal procedure that takes place,” she said.
But obviously, every time serious adverse events are reported about any vaccine that raises concerns in the public mind, she added. “When you talk about trust in the vaccine or hesitation about the vaccine, could it have an impact? It’s certainly possible.”
Dr. Paul Offit, another member of the Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Organic Products, said he hoped Americans would think about the issue “rationally,” adding that blood clots appear to be extremely rare. He mentioned that convincing people in hard-to-reach communities is a challenge.
“It should be reassuring for people that officials are still looking [at the vaccine], even for rare side effects, “he said.
– CNBC’s Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this article.