South Africa suspends Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine amid clot concerns

South Africa has voluntarily suspended the rollout of Johnson & Johnson vaccine following the announcement made by the Food and Drug Administration to temporarily suspend the J&J vaccine in the US after reports of six females developing blood clots with low platelets there.

“After this advisory came to my attention, I held urgent consultations with our scientists, who have advised that we cannot take the decision made by the FDA lightly. Based on their advise, we have determined to voluntarily suspend our rollout until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the J&J vaccine is sufficiently interrogated,” Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health Department said in a statement.

Mkhize added that South Africa has not had any reports of clots after vaccination.So far, the country has inoculated 289,787 healthcare workers under the Sisonke Protocol.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

“Our scientists are confident that the FDA decision is on a precautionary basis and we expect that this will not result in the complete withdrawal of the J&J vaccine from the vaccination armament,” the minister said while adding that he is confident the rollout of J&J will resume.

A type of brain blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis was seen with low levels of blood platelets in women, who were all between the ages of 18 and 48, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday in a joint statement.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” the CDC and the FDA said in the statement.

As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine have been administered in the US.