Johnson & Johnson defended its vaccine against COVID-19 amid concerns it could cause blood clots, saying clots have been reported with all three authorized shots in the U.S., citing a study published in February.
But that study found no blood clots related to the other two vaccines, made by Pfizer and Moderna.
And J&J is now under fire from the author of the same study he cited for misrepresenting the findings of his research.
“We didn’t find anyone with blood clots,” Dr. Eun-Ju Lee, an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and lead author of the study in question, told CNN.
“We didn’t find any of these scary things going on with Johnson & Johnson.”
Johnson & Johnson claimed there had been reports of blood clots such as those that caused a pause in the U.S. and the EU in their firing related to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The author of the report he cited says it is false
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating seven reports of blood clots, which can cause fatal brain hemorrhages, in people who had been shot J & J two weeks before.
Agencies have suspended the use of the vaccine until its investigation is completed. New shooting guidelines are expected to be released on Friday.
In addition to concerns that Johnson & Johnson’s statement was misleading, experts are concerned that their false claims fuel confidence in vaccines, and 20% of Americans already hesitate to receive the shots.
So how did Johnson & Johnson go wrong with its media statement, shared by CNN?
Weill Cornell’s study found people who developed low-platelet disease after receiving Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Johnson & Johnson’s statement cited Cornell’s study as stating that “thromboembolic events have been reported with all COVID-19 vaccines.” The study found thrombocytopenia (a disease of the number of platelets in the blood), but no thrombosis or blood clots, after vaccination with the Modern or Pfizer vaccine.
This particular condition, known as thrombocytopenia, can sometimes cause blood clots. When platelet count decreases, the body may begin to increase the production of another blood compound, known as thrombin, to try to make up for lost platelets.
In rare cases, this can cause clots, and in even rarer cases, scientists think vaccines can trigger a type of antibody that leads to decreased platelet count (and then thrombosis or blood clots).
Cornell’s study, published in February 2019, identified 20 cases of thrombocytopenia, suggesting that clots could form in the U.S. side effects monitoring system within 14 days of vaccination with Pfizer shots or Modern.
But finding these cases after vaccination is not enough to prove a link.
Nine of them had received the Pfizer vaccine and 11 had received the Moderna vaccine.
Three of the people identified in the study had a history of blood clots or a low platelet count, one had a family history of blood clots and already had an abnormal platelet count: a warning sign for the particular clotting condition that scientists worry it could be triggered with the J&J vaccine – before it is fired.
Fifteen had been treated for suspected cases of low platelet count and three had autoimmune conditions that increased the risks of dangerous clots or low platelet count.
Five cases of thrombocytopenia were reported that could not be decisively ruled out as related or unrelated to vaccines.
Ultimately, the study found less than one case of low platelet counts per million vaccinations, among the 20 million people who had been vaccinated at the end of the study.
Disease rates with a low platelet count “appear to be lower or roughly comparable to what would be seen if cases were matched after vaccination, perhaps slightly improved by higher surveillance of symptomatic patients,” the authors wrote. the study.
This is markedly different from what is seen in the seven people who developed blood clots after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
One person who developed thrombocytopenia died as a man in the clinical trial.
Since then, six other women, all between the ages of 18 and 48, have developed a low platelet count after receiving a single-dose shot of J&J and one woman died.
It is still a percentage of about one million, but the symptoms of women were particularly severe and similar to the problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe, which eventually led some countries to stop recommending it to those under 30 years of age. .
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he doubts that the use of the J&J shot will be completely canceled in the US
Most likely the updated recommendations from the CDC and FDA, expected on Friday, advise that they be used only for certain age groups and genders, US surgeon general Vivek told CNN on Monday Murthy.