Blood clots are reported with Janssen COVID-19 vaccines

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) launched an inquiry into reports of “rare blood clots” in people who received Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine in the United States – the same side effect as AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine. Some U.S. states have suspended the administration of the Janssen vaccine after a series of reports of side effects including dizziness.

The EMA said it was reviewing reports of blood clots in four people who received the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiary and one person died, adding that one case was reported in a clinical trial, and the other three occurred in the United States. The Janssen vaccine was approved by the European Union on March 11 but has not been administered yet. The company said, although they were able identify unusual clotting, “at present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.”

Four U.S. states of Georgia, Iowa, Colorado and North Carolina have paused the use of the Janssen vaccine at some vaccination clinics according to CNN on Friday, with Colorado saying that 11 out of 1,700 people who received the vaccine at a clinic in Commerce City reported nausea and dizziness. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said its production-level analysis on the Janssen vaccine did not find a cause for concern.


Jong-Yeob JO jjj@donga.com