Raleigh, North Carolina – Several COVID-19 vaccine providers have stopped administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after some adverse reactions were reported on Thursday.
Wake County spokeswoman Stacy Beard said 18 people had an adverse reaction to the vaccine at the PNC Arena clinic. More than 2,300 Johnson & Johnson vaccines were administered at the clinic on Thursday, meaning 0.78% of vaccine recipients had a reaction.
Fourteen people who had a reaction were evaluated by the Wake County EMS at PNC Arena and treated in situ. Four people were taken to a local hospital for evaluation and are expected to be released.
Those who reported reactions reported symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, fainting, and an allergic reaction.
“Everyone is monitored. If they worry, we monitor them for 30 minutes. So most indications were detected very early,” said Ryan Jury, who oversees Wake County’s vaccination efforts.
Thursday night’s disease control and prevention centers recommended recommended vaccination at PNC Arena after health experts found no safety issues or concerns.
In a statement, the CDC said it knew vaccine recipients reported dizziness, dizziness, fainting, rapid breathing and sweating after receiving the vaccine in Iowa, Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina.
Prior to the CDC announcement, the county health official stopped vaccinations against Johnson & Johnson on Friday. The mass vaccination clinic will offer only the two-dose Pfizer vaccine on Friday.
“There are other products we’ve used for months, but if we look at how long we use the Johnson & Johnson product, it’s not necessarily that long. So we’re not sure what’s normal, what’s not normal. this time we are very much in childhood and [we’re] just trying to figure out what the causes of that were, there’s some reason to worry, ”the jury said.
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“There is no higher priority than the safety and well-being of the people we care for. When we receive reports of adverse events in people receiving our medications and vaccines, we gather the necessary information and carefully evaluate events. people who receive our COVID -19 vaccine and our evaluation of these reports are shared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other appropriate health authorities.This is part of the process established to report comprehensive surveillance programs. of the health authorities overseeing the general safety of the drugs, as well as vaccines authorized to be used against this pandemic, ”a Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman said in a statement on the adverse reaction to the vaccine at the PNC Arena.
Johnson & Johnson doses in Wake County will be retained and stored until additional information is collected.
UNC Health spokesman Alan Wolf said the medical system was stalling when administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to all UNC Health vaccine clinics after a small number of recipients were notified fainting.
In a statement, UNC Health said more than 2,200 Johnson & Johnson vaccines had been administered at the Friday Center and the Hillsborough Hospital clinic. The specific number of people who had a reaction to the vaccine was not given.
Wolf said UNC Health will revalue Friday and the pause is until officials can better control what is happening.
Dr David Wohl, an infectious disease specialist at UNC Health, said that over the next two days, health experts will study safety reports, examine each reaction and look for ways to calm those who are nervous around the shot.
“I don’t think it’s an allergic reaction. Most of the people I’ve seen here who have fainted have a history of fainting, especially around the needles. So it’s really difficult, “Wohl explained. “We also vaccinate people who are different from the ones we did before. Often people get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because they are adverse to the needles and don’t want to throw them away. We try to make sure if it’s the vaccine or the people who get it or a a combination of both. “
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The Duke University Health System said it would continue to administer Johnson & Johnson vaccines, as no adverse reactions have been reported at its clinics.
“Duke Health received the Janssen (J&J) vaccine from the same batch number identified at the Wake County vaccine clinic, but the shipment was sent directly to Duke without intermediaries. No Duke patients have suffered serious incidents. minor side effects of the vaccine have been consistent with those reported by the manufacturer prior to authorization and remain within the expected rates, ”said Thomas Owens, president of Duke University Hospital and senior vice president of Duke Health, in a communiqué.
Of the 2.2 million people completely vaccinated against coronavirus in North Carolina, only 8% received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This means that about 167,000 people received the vaccine, which is about 1.5% of the state’s population.
The number of people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is likely to increase because the number of doses arriving in the state has increased dramatically. This week, the state received about 150,000 doses, compared to less than 60,000 last week. That number was higher than the number of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that hit the state this week.
