San Mateo County pauses J&J vaccine use after federal recommendation

“I’m concerned though that with the lack of vaccine overall in the state and with many states confronting a surge in new cases, the J&J setback could lead to more vaccine hesitancy and derail the dream of fully reopening the state’s economy on June 15,” Canepa said in a statement.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or Janssen, is under review from the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration after U.S. reports of a rare blood clot in six cases among the 6.8 million who received it. The cases occurred among women 18 to 48, with symptoms reported six to 13 days after vaccination.

Dr. Anand Chabra, San Mateo County Health vaccination branch chief, said concerns about cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, a clot in the brain that prevents blood from draining, in combination with low levels of blood platelets in Janssen recipients nationally led to the county decision.

“County Health has also directed its vaccinating partners, including hospitals and local clinics, to suspend use of the Janssen vaccine until it is officially cleared by CDC/FDA,” Chabra said in a news release.

In San Mateo County, 564,367 shots of the COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered by the county, health care providers, hospitals, pharmacies and community clinics. Of the total, 22,306 shots are of the Janssen vaccine, around 3.9% of total vaccines administered in San Mateo County, the others being the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. County Health and its vendors have used 5,700 doses of Janssen in mass vaccination and community events for all eligible residents, homeless populations and homebound residents. County Health received 500 Janssen doses this week but will not use them until it gets further state and federal guidance, the county said.

The county plans to switch community clinics that use the Janssen vaccine to Pfizer or Moderna. The county will reevaluate Janssen’s use, including vaccination of homebound residents, patients discharged from hospitals and new bookings at correctional facilities. The county does have targeted events planned with Janssen this week, but it will supply those events with Pfizer and Moderna doses so they can still take place with the same amount of doses as planned.

Kaiser Permanente announced it was pausing the administering of Janssen vaccinations as recommended by federal agencies. Kaiser said it would reach out to people who received the vaccination to update them on the situation and symptoms of which to be aware.

“We will only cancel existing vaccine appointments if no other COVID-19 vaccine is available. Depending on its duration, we expect this pause to decrease vaccine supply and the number of vaccine appointments we can offer. We will continue to do everything we can to administer as many doses of COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible,” Kaiser spokesperson Karl Sonkin said in an email.

Sutter Health is pausing Janssen vaccinations to follow public health guidance and will update its protocol accordingly.

“We are currently contacting patients scheduled for J&J vaccine today to cancel their appointments, and where possible will reschedule them with a different vaccine. Due to supply constraints, patients scheduled for J&J this week may need to be placed on a standby list and rescheduled as additional Moderna and Pfizer are made available to us,” Sutter Health spokesperson Emma Dugas said in an email.

County Health spokesperson Preston Merchant said the low number of Janssen vaccine doses would not significantly affect options for the April 15 eligibility expansion, as the county only received 500 this week after receiving 2,300 last week. The county received more than 5,000 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines this week. The state has been shaving the county’s numbers down for all vaccine types, and it is likely to continue over the next few weeks before a potential upswing.

“The reality is, we have very little vaccine [available] and only enough doses to focus on our community clinics and high-risk areas,” Merchant said.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

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