U.S. health officials recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine on concerns about rare and severe blood clotting side effects. A type of brain blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets in six women between the ages of 18 and 48, the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday in a joint statement. As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, the agencies said.
The recommended pause may further complicate efforts to vaccinate the world, just weeks after a vaccine relying on a similar approach and developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford raised similar concerns in Europe.
J&J representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. South Africa kick-started its first phase of the vaccination rollout programme using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in February.
On 17 February the first group of healthcare workers lined-up to receive the shot of Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
The South African government said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a good first choice for the national vaccination programme. It was tested in a large trial of almost 44,000 people from four continents, of whom 7.000 participants came from South Africa.
The study also provided a good picture of how the vaccine works against the new 501Y.V2 variant, which is dominant in South Africa. The South African trial showed that while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine does not prevent mild symptoms, it provides 57% protection against moderate-severe disease, 85% protection against severe disease, and 100% protection against death.
By way of comparison, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine provided only 27% protection against mild to moderate COVID-19 caused by the new 501Y.V2 variant.
When injected, the vaccine trains your immune system to fight the virus that causes COVID-19. Like all COVID-19 vaccines, the jab contains instructions for the spike protein on the Coronavirus.
These instructions are delivered to the immune system by a modified adenovirus that has also been used in other vaccines, such as the Ebola and Zika shots. The adenovirus is safe to use in vaccines as it has been modified so that it cannot cause disease or replicate in humans.
Some mild side effects include tenderness at the injection site, feeling unwell, feverish and a headache for a few days. These are positive signs that the body is mounting an immune response to the Coronavirus.
In other news – DJ Zinhle dragged into Nelli Tembe’s death
Ever since Sunday when Nelli Tembe‘s incident came out, social media has been expressing different feelings on the matter as there is no concrete information on what actually happened, as yet.
Therefore some tweeps on Black Twitter took it upon themselves to be the judges of what happened to an extent of dragging people who have been once involved with Nelli’s fiance, rapper AKA. Learn more
Source: mybroadband
