How FDA’s pause on Johnson & Johnson may affect global rollout

Los Angeles Times

4 years ago

In this March 31, 2021, file photo, a nurse fills a syringe with Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine at the Vaxmobile, at the Uniondale Hempstead Senior Center, in Uniondale, N.Y. U.S. health regulators on Tuesday, April 13, is recommending a “pause” in using the vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

More than a billion people around the world have been waiting for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — a cheap, easy-to-transport, one-dose injection to reduce the risk of COVID-19.

Now the global rollout has been thrown into doubt.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which this week recommended use of the vaccine be paused while scientists study a possible link to extremely rare blood clots, has no authority outside the United States. But many countries follow its lead.

The fallout has already started in South Africa, where authorities also paused use of the vaccine, which was the only one available there. In February, the country scuttled plans to use AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which tested poorly against the coronavirus variant that is dominant there and has also been linked to blood clots.

Read the full story at LATimes.com.