Two US federal agencies have called for a pause in administering Johnson & Johnson's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine so reports of a rare blood clot side effect may be investigated, the Wall Street Journal reports.
"We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution," the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say in a joint statement. J&J's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is a one-dose regimen that received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA in March and, according to the FDA and CDC, about 6.8 million doses of the vaccine have been administered.
Six women developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis with low blood platelet levels between six and 13 days after they received the J&J vaccine. The Journal reports that an outside panel is to review the data Wednesday for the CDC, while the FDA will perform its own investigation.
The Verge adds that the European Medicines Agency similarly announced it would be reviewing the J&J vaccine following reports of four cases of blood clots there. The EMA recently reviewed AstraZeneca's SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, which has also been tied to reports of rare blood clots, and the Journal notes that some countries have restricted the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to certain age groups.