The Williams County Health Department has developed community talking points in an effort to provide useful information as we work together to prevent COVID-19 spread in our community.
In the past 7 days (April 6th-April 13th), there have been 64 new cases, 6 hospitalizations, and 0 deaths reported. As of 4/8, Williams County remains level 2 (orange) on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System (OPHAS) and triggered 2 of the 7 indicators (New cases per capita & Non-congregate cases) and high incidence.
- Ohio Advises Temporary Pause for Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine
- Why is the CDC, FDA, and Ohio recommending the pause of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine?
-As of April 12th, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine have been administered in the United States. Six cases of a type of blood clot, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) have been reported. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.
-Each of these instances were observed in women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms developed between 6 and 13 days after vaccination.
-As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are temporarily pausing the use of the J&J vaccine out of an abundance of caution.
-The J&J vaccine pause is a sign that the U.S. surveillance system is functioning as intended. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) serves as the nation’s early warning system to detect possible safety issues with vaccines. This continuous, robust safety monitoring helps keep COVID-19 vaccines safe by reviewing reports of possible health problems after vaccination. If it looks as though a vaccine might be causing a problem, FDA and CDC will investigate further and take action.
-The CDC will convene a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates these cases. Until this process is complete, the use of the J&J vaccine is paused.
- If I received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, what should I do?
-People who have received the J&J vaccine who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their healthcare provider. Healthcare providers are asked to report adverse events to the VAERS at https://vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html.
-You may also call the WCHD at 419-485-3141 and ask to speak with a Public Health Nurse to report an adverse event or ask any questions about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
- How does the risk of blood clot from a J&J vaccine compare to other instances of blood clotting?
-In the general public, the risk of developing blood clots is about 0.1% with 300,000-500,000 blood clotting events reported annually in the United States (population of 351 million).
-The risk of developing clots as a result of COVID-19 is quite high. For those who are hospitalized in the ICU, the risk is up to 30%. The risk is 8% for those who have moderate cases of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.
-The risk of developing a blood clot after receiving the J&J vaccine is extremely small so far (0.000088%). It is an extremely rare occurrence and, as of now, there is no definitive causal relationship. These clots are rarer than the general incidence of clots amongst the general population and less rare than clotting as a result from COVID-19.
- Has this rare occurrence happened with other COVID-19 vaccines too?
-It’s not happening with the other vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. — the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines — according to the FDA. Those vaccines are based on a different technology, called mRNA, while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses what’s called viral vector technology.