US Limits Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Use Due to Blood Clot Risk

On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limited the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, which has generated 60 cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).

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This condition, which produces life-threatening blood clots combined with low platelet count, appeared approximately one to two weeks after immunization with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and was most often in premenopausal women.

"This vaccine's use limitation demonstrates the strength of our safety surveillance systems and our commitment to ensuring that science and data guide our decisions," FDA scientist Peter Marks said.

Although the TTS has caused the death of nine Johnson & Johnson-vaccinated people, Marks recalled that it is unnecessary to be alarmed by this disease, whose incidence rate has not exceeded 3.23 cases per million doses of that vaccine.

"The restriction on the authorization of this vaccine shall apply to persons over 18 years of age for whom no other vaccines are available or are medically appropriate, or who do not wish to receive another vaccine," he stressed.

As of May 4, the U.S. had administrated about 18 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines, representing only 7,7 percent of citizens fully immunized against COVID-19.

So far, this country has reported 83,437,113 coronavirus cases and 1,023,908 related deaths, 225 of which occurred in the last 24 hours.