Essex County has been using the COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna at its five sites. But today, following six cases of rare blood clots in women who had received the J&J vaccine elsewhere, the county is heeding a joint recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and the Food & Drug Administration and pausing distribution of the J&J shot.
“The CDC and FDA are recommending that J&J vaccinations be paused because six cases of blood clotting have been reported out of almost seven million doses given,” Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. said in a prepared statement. “This is less than one in one million. In an abundance of caution, we are following the CDC and FDA recommendation.”
“Residents who have scheduled a J&J appointment at our Kmart or Sears sites will be offered the Moderna vaccine instead,” DiVincenzo said. “Senior citizens who are being bused to our sites to receive their vaccination also will receive the Moderna vaccine. Unfortunately, our mobile sites at churches, senior buildings, community centers, shelters, boarding homes and homebound residents will be rescheduled.”
Verona was supposed to have begun this week to transport seniors to a special county site to get the J&J vaccine.
