Berrien, Van Buren, Cass Health Departments Suspend Use Of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

syringe-safe-4-19
syringe-safe-4-19

The Berrien County Health Department and the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department have suspended use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The Berrien County Health Department has released the following:

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued a joint recommendation to pause administration of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen (J&J) vaccine.

Per these recommendations, the Berrien County Health Department will not be providing the J&J vaccine until further notice. The previously planned J&J clinic on Thursday, April 15th will be switched to use the Moderna vaccine with a second dose return date of Thursday, May 13th. All individuals with scheduled appointments for this week’s clinic will be contacted and notified of the change in vaccine product being used.

More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S. to date. CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of an extremely rare type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the J&J vaccine. CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Wednesday, April 14th to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases. Until that process is complete, BCHD will pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution, and will release more information about future J&J clinics as it becomes available.

“Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare, and there have not been any reported adverse events reported in Berrien County after the administration of the J&J vaccine,” said Nicki Britten, health officer at the Berrien County Health Department. “COVID-19 vaccine safety is a top priority for all vaccine providers, and we are assured that the data is being reviewed swiftly by the experts.”

BCHD will continue to provide the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination products at clinics as previously scheduled. BCHD has open scheduling with appointment availability found at www.bchdmi.org/COVID19; residents who need assistance in scheduling an appointment can call 1.800.815.5485.

 

Meanwhile, the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department has released the following:

We are aware of the latest recommendation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over six reported US cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot.
Per MDHHS and CDC instruction, we will be pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine until further notice.
➡ IF YOU HAVE AN APPOINTMENT: Following state guidance, if you have an appointment at a Johnson & Johnson clinic, we will be switching the vaccine to Moderna, 2-dose series. We encourage you to keep your appointment.
Our health department has been using Moderna vaccine for the entire duration of the vaccine rollout in Van Buren and Cass County with great success. We feel confident in the efficacy and benefits of the vaccine and encourage the community to continue to take advantage of the benefits of getting a vaccine.