An advisory committee from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not vote Wednesday on whether to extend the country’s pause on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, after group experts argued that it was still not enough. data to make final recommendations in light of the serious, rare blood clotting events potentially related to the traits.
While the current CDC pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is not binding, a warning issued by federal health officials on Tuesday called for the vaccines to be suspended only until the group votes on “updated recommendations” for using the vaccine. . In response to FDA and CDC advice on the break, all states and DC and Puerto Rico have chosen to temporarily stop administering this vaccine.
The CDC has not yet decided on a date to resume the group’s debate on the issue.
“Your contributions today have been incredibly helpful in helping us report on our work over the next week,” said Dr. Amanda Cohn, a federal officer appointed by the agency to the advisory committee.
“To be very frank, I don’t want to vote on this issue today,” Dr. Beth Bell, a panel member and former head of the CDC’s infectious diseases, told the committee.
“I just don’t think there’s enough information to make an evidence-based decision. We won’t have all the information, but I think there are some things we can gather relatively quickly, that have to do with the risk balance benefit.” added Dr. Bell.
A working group said it had discussed several options this week, including recommending using the vaccine only for specific groups of people or abandoning the shot altogether, but concluded that they needed more data on these and other possible cases. which could be reported.
White House officials have said the pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccinations is likely to affect the national vaccination campaign in the “very short term,” but have insisted that Pfizer and Moderna’s supply is sufficient to meet its goals.
Ongoing trials of the single-shot vaccine have been stopped due to the original pause. Vaccine launches abroad were also discontinued following the recommendation, as were key programs launched by U.S. state and local authorities to use the shots to vaccinate hard-to-reach communities.
“We are in a situation where not making a decision is tantamount to making a decision. Any extension of the break will invariably result in the fact that the most vulnerable people in the United States, who were the main candidates for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, will continue to be vulnerable, “Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah, President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
Representatives from Johnson & Johnson, the Food and Drug Administration and CDC officials made presentations to the committee, exposing a handful of new details about the cases known so far.