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Ampoule with vaccine from Johnson & Johnson: Serious side effects "very rare"
Photo: Jessica Hill / dpa
Corona vaccinations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are being resumed in the United States after concerns about cases of blood clots.
The US health authorities CDC and FDA gave the green light for the renewed use of the vector virus vaccine in Washington on Friday.
Previously, the EU Medicines Agency EMA had also recommended the US group's drug unreservedly.
The statement by the US authorities can be found here: FDA and CDC Lift Recommended Pause on Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine
The vaccine should be inoculated again, announced the FDA and the CDC health authority together.
The benefits of the agent outweigh the risks, it was said to justify.
With their decision, the authorities followed the recommendation of a commission of experts published shortly before.
At the same time, they announced that they would continue to check the risk of blood clots.
Because of several cases of blood clots in vaccinated people, the US authorities suspended vaccinations with the J&J on April 13th.
The CDC hired the commission of experts to review the safety of the vaccine.
This recommended the use of the vaccine on Friday on the basis of the emergency approval by the FDA for use in all adults aged 18 and over.
The cases of blood clots in those vaccinated with the J & J vaccine are "particularly rare," said CDC boss Rochelle Walensky.
According to data released Friday, 15 out of 3.99 million women vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson in the United States developed serious blood clots.
Three of them died.
13 of the 15 people affected were under 50 years of age.
A total of 7.98 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States.
No blood clots were seen in men after vaccination.
Johnson & Johnson's corona vaccine has also been approved in the EU since March;
however, it has hardly been administered there so far.
Because of the thrombosis cases in the USA, the manufacturer had temporarily stopped the delivery planned for mid-April.
After an examination of the blood clot cases that occurred in the USA in connection with the vaccine, the EU Medicines Agency (EMA) announced this week that it would stick to its recommendation for the vaccine.
The EU agency justified the decision that the benefits of the US company's vaccine outweigh the risks.
However, blood clots should be included in the list of "very rare" side effects.
A warning can be added to the product information.
The Johnson & Johnson vector virus vaccine has the advantage of being easy to store.
In addition, only one dose is necessary for immunization.
And AstraZeneca?
Four federal states approve the vaccine for all age groups
Even with the corona vaccine from the British-Swedish manufacturer AstraZeneca, blood clots were observed in individual cases after a vaccination.
Because of this, age restrictions for vaccination with AstraZeneca have been introduced in many countries.
In Germany, the vaccine should only be used in people aged 60 and over.
However, several federal states want to use the vaccine much more widely than before.
Bavaria, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin have announced that they will release the vaccine for all age groups.
For people under 60 years of age, however, detailed advice from the vaccinator is necessary before the injection, as the health ministries announced.
Chile announced on Friday after receiving its first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine that it would be given to men only.
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got himself vaccinated with AstraZeneca on Friday, stressing that the vector virus vaccine is safe for anyone over the age of 30.
oka / AFP / dpa