The Johnson and Johnson vaccine was one of the three vaccines distributed to most American citizens at the start of this year. However, after a few months of vaccination, Johnson and Johnson were ordered to pause after multiple cases of an extremely rare blood clot occurred. They distributed over 6.8 million doses of the vaccine and there were six cases of blood clots that all occurred in women that were anywhere from 18 to 48 years of age and occurred around a week and a half after the vaccine was administered. 

Because of these six cases, Dr. Anne Schuchat director of the CDC stated:

 “CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance,” the statement said. “FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases. Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution. This is important, in part, to ensure that the health care provider community is aware of the potential for these adverse events and can plan for proper recognition and management due to the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot.”

This is obviously a situation that the CDC is taking very seriously, due to a lot of Americans already being skeptical of the COVID-19 vaccines they want to make sure that everything is taken seriously and with precaution. Johnson and Johnson even came out with a statement saying, “We have been working closely with medical experts and health authorities, and we strongly support the open communication of this information to healthcare professionals and the public.”

The pause of the vaccine is being shared with lots of skepticism because it is an extremely rare case. Over one million people were administered with the vaccine and only six got the rare blood clot. Some citizens believe that the CDC is overreacting and the vaccine should keep distributing as normal. However, you never know if this type of problem is going to be a bigger deal in the future. Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System stated, ” I want to congratulate the CDC and the FDA for very quickly jumping on it, halting the vaccinations until we know more, and really trying to understand what’s going on,” del Rio the continued to say. “I think vaccine safety has always been a priority — and I think this is exactly the right move until we understand what’s going on and what’s the way forward.”