Pause on J&J vaccine

Crushed

NYT

WASHINGTON — Federal health agencies on Tuesday called for an immediate pause in use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine after six recipients in the United States developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within about two weeks of vaccination, officials briefed on the decision said.  All six recipients were women between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition, the officials said.

 The condition is cerebral venous thrombosis

Just by chance  CVT is something I've looked at in the past.  It is related to Oral Contraceptive use.

/for exampleFront Neurol. 2015; 6: 7.

Published online 2015 Feb 2.     Hormonal Contraceptives and Cerebral Venous Thrombosis Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

 Results: Of 861 studies reviewed, 11 were included. The pooled odds of developing CVST in women aged 15–50 years taking OCPs was 7.59 times higher compared to women not taking OCPs (OR = 7.59, 95% CI 3.82–15.09). Data are insufficient to make conclusions about duration of use and other forms of hormonal contraceptives.

Conclusion: Oral contraceptive pills use increases the risk of developing CVST in women of reproductive age. Future studies are required to determine if duration and type of hormonal contraceptives modify this risk.    

Since all the blood clot patients described are women of reproductive age Out of an abundance of caution May I suggest you bring this to the attention of any younger women in your family? 

If they have had the J&J vaccine and use oral contraceptives They should not ignore any kind of headache.   Get medical advice

 

abc123

Crushed, thank you for sharing this info.

Joe C.

Thank you Crush. Good information to know.

Iris L.

I just posted about antiphospholipid syndrome before seeing this thread.  These women might have this syndrome.  It is very rare.  I have it.  It can mascarade as other conditions yet still cause serious complications.  

Iris

feudman

I'm not a medical professional, and I'm only asking (not proposing): with the urgency to get as many people vaxxed as quickly as possible, wouldnt it be possible to rigorously screen for this condition before administering it to at risk women, rather than withholding the vaccine entirely? Maybe continue giving it to males only? In Dr. Faucci's words "these cases are literally one chance in a million."

Lane Simonian

The one in a million figure is likely to come down substantially.  Some times people don't know where or how to report side effects, don't connect the condition to the vaccine, or are afraid to report side effects.  For the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine the incidences of immune thrombocytopenia purpura is about 1 in 40,000 doses (the same blood disorder now being linked to the coronavirus vaccines).  I doubt the number will drop to that level but 1 in 100,000 is not out of the question.

Secondly, the blood clotting problems are not exclusive to women:

uk [United Kingdom] data:
With more than 20m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered in the UK, 79 cases of clots have been reported and 19 people have died, the MHRA chief executive said.
Blood clot risk
Of the 79 cases, 51 occurred in women and 28 in men – aged from 18 to 79 years of age. Of the 19 deaths, three were in people aged under 30, with 14 of these cases involving cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), and five ‘other types of thrombosis’ in major veins.

Thirdly, the clotting problems are also seen with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajh.26132

At some point, hopefully soon, what small part of the population is most at risk for this adverse side effects will be known, so that the vast majority of the population can get the vaccine without fear.  Also, it seems that the knowledge of how to treat these blood clotting problems due to the vaccines has advanced considerably (for example, intravenous immunoglobulin treatments appear to often work, whereas the administration of heparin makes the situation worse).