A version of this story appeared in the April 14 edition of CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter. Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday.
Confusion is growing over the safety of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, after use of the shot was paused in the United States with little warning, catching President Joe Biden off guard and sending state leaders scrambling to stop shots going in arms.
It was after 10 p.m. on Monday that officials leading Biden’s ambitious vaccine effort received the news that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was preparing an announcement for the following morning concerning J&J’s vaccine. Because details were so scant, White House officials didn’t brief the President, according to two people familiar with the situation, write Kevin Liptak, Kaitlan Collins and Kristen Holmes.
Six women in the US have experienced a rare combination of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis – clotting in the sinuses that drain blood from the brain – and low levels of blood platelets following the single-shot J&J vaccine, which has been given to almost 7 million people. One of those cases has been fatal, making the incidence of the blood disorder and fatality rate extremely low. The combination of clots and low blood platelet counts is the same condition reported in dozens of people in Europe who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The early morning alert Tuesday set off a scramble in states that were preparing to administer the J&J shot within a matter of hours, forcing administration health officials to deal with frustrated governors in a midday call. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, asked if there was something driving the decision other than the six cases, complaining it was difficult to explain a pause over something so rare.
“What has to be appreciated is the ability for governors to reinstill confidence after something like this is 100 times harder than the pause in the first place,” he told federal officials on the call.
Meanwhile, J&J has paused its vaccine rollout in Europe, as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was closely monitoring developments around the shot in the US. EMA confirmed a “possible link” between the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and the same combination of blood clots and low platelet counts last week, but it stopped short of advising countries to limit its use.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.
Q. I’ve had the J&J vaccine. Should I be worried?
A. It’s important to remember that the combination of blood clotting and low blood platelet counts is extremely rare, less than one in a million at the moment. Dr. Anthony Fauci has explained that the pause is aimed at giving officials time to determine if the problem is more widespread than that, and to inform medical providers not to use a type of blood thinner called Heparin. The drug is usually used to treat blood clots but could be dangerous in people with this rare combination of clots and low platelet counts.
But there are some symptoms that can indicate blood clotting that you should look out for. If you experience a severe headache that doesn’t go away, significant abdominal or leg pain that doesn’t subside, or increasing shortness of breath, health officials say you should call your doctor immediately. All six cases reported were in women between six and 13 days after having the vaccine, but if you’re a man and are experiencing these symptoms, you should still call your doctor. If you received the J&J vaccine more than a month ago, the risk of experiencing a serious blood clot is very low, CDC officials say. Read here for more details.
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WHAT’S IMPORTANT TODAY
The pandemic has put the world on track for more inequality and instability, US intelligence report says
The fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is poised to fracture societies worldwide, increase instability across the globe and reshape political and economic realities for years to come, the US intelligence community warned in a stark report laying out the top security concerns facing the country.
The dire economic picture boosts the risk of internal conflicts, surges in cross-border migration and even the collapse of national governments, officials warned. The report, known as the Annual Threat Assessment, is typically made public once a year, but bitter wrangling between the Trump administration and Congress kept the 2020 document locked away.
The Olympics is in 100 days. It might become a super-spreader event.
When volunteers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have asked officials how they’ll be protected from Covid-19 recently – given the foreign athletes pouring into Japan for the event and the country’s low vaccination rate – the answer has been simple: They’ll get a small bottle of hand sanitizer and two masks each.
With 100 days to go and just 1% of Japan’s population vaccinated, questions remain over how Tokyo can hold a massive sporting event and keep volunteers, athletes, officials and the Japanese public safe from Covid-19, Blake Essig, Emiko Jozuka and Ben Westcott write.
Deaths outpace births in some Brazilian cities as Covid-19 surges
For the sixth month in a row, the city of Rio de Janeiro has seen more deaths than births – a devastating indicator of Brazil’s unceasing Covid-19 crisis. The nation’s second most populous city registered 36,437 deaths in March, 16% more than the month’s 32,060 new births. It wasn’t alone: At least 10 other Brazilian cities with populations over half a million people also registered more deaths than births last month.
The grim death-birth ratio is one more lens onto a national crisis that federal and local officials have largely failed to contain more than a year into the pandemic, Rodrigo Pedroso and Caitlin Hu write. Cities across the country have been hit hard by a recent surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths, fueled in part by new variants believed to be more contagious than older ones, as well as some Brazilians’ disregard for social distancing precautions.
ON OUR RADAR
- Vaccine passport apps are about to be everywhere. It could get complicated.
- More young people in the US are being hospitalized with Covid-19 as the “stickier” B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the UK, becomes more dominant …
- … but it’s still unclear how much the variant has to do with the uptick. Two new studies suggest that while it is more contagious, it doesn’t appear to affect disease severity. Those findings, however, contradict an earlier study.
- A UK clinical trial looking at the efficacy of mixing different vaccines in a two-dose regimen has been expanded. Its findings could have implications for people who have taken one shot of the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a partial lockdown for the first two weeks of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, as Turkey continues to post record numbers of coronavirus cases and increasing daily deaths.
TODAY’S TOP TIP
Some people have responded to lockdowns and restrictions with a boost to their exercise regime. Others have become couch potatoes, or are struggling to balance work and home life, leaving less time for fitness. What does this all mean for your Covid-19 risk? A new study by the healthcare consortium Kaiser Permanente shows that a history of being consistently active is strongly associated with a reduced risk of severe Covid-19. Even if you don’t have that history, it’s never too late to get started.
The study looked at nearly 50,000 adults with Covid-19 and found that those who met the target of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ physical activity guidelines – of at least 2.5 hours a week of moderate to vigorous physical activity – showed significantly lower incidences of hospitalization, ICU admission and death due to Covid-19 illness. Per day, that means you should get a minimum of 22 minutes of exercise in. Here are some ways to make sure even the busiest person can find the time.
TODAY’S PODCAST
“It really allows both the FDA and the CDC to further investigate these cases, to try and understand some of the mechanisms of what it is.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the President, on the J&J pause
Vaccine passports may help people feel safer when returning to normal life, but given privacy concerns, some experts aren’t in favor. CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains the concerns around monitoring people’s vaccination status. Listen now.