Johnson & Johnson defended its COVID-19 vaccine amid concerns that it could cause blood clots, saying there were blood clots with all three shots authorized in the US, citing a study published in February .
But the study did not find blood clots related to the other two vaccines, which were made by Pfizer and Moderna.
And J&J is now under fire from the author of the study who cited it, because he misrepresented the findings of her research.
“We did not find anyone with blood clots,” said 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 did not find any of the scary things happening to Johnson & Johnson.”
Johnson & Johnson claims that there have been reports of blood clots such as those causing a disruption in the US and the EU, also linked to the vaccines Pfizer and Moderna. The author of the report he quoted says it is false
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are investigating seven reports of blood clots, which can cause fatal brain haemorrhage, in people who received J & J’s shot two weeks earlier.
The agencies seized the use of the vaccine until their investigation was completed. New guidelines regarding the shot are expected to be issued Friday.
In addition to concerns that Johnson and Johnson’s statement is misleading, experts are concerned that the false allegations will fuel further mistrust in vaccines – and 20 percent of Americans are already reluctant to get the shots.
How, then, did Johnson & Johnson get his media statement, which was shared by CNN, so wrong?
In the Weill Cornell study, people were found to have a low platelet count after receiving Moderna and Pfizer vaccinations.
Johnson & Johnson’s statement quoted the Cornell study as claiming that “thromboembolic events … have been reported with all COVID-19 vaccines.” The study found thrombocytopenia – a low platelet count – but not thrombosis, or blood clots themselves, after vaccination with Moderna or Pfizer’s vaccination
This particular condition, known as thrombocytopenia, can sometimes lead to blood clots. As the number of platelets decreases, the body may increase the production of another blood compound known as thrombin to try to compensate for the lost platelets.
In rare cases, it can lead to blood clots – and in even rarer cases, scientists think that vaccines can cause a type of antibody that leads to a decrease in the number of platelets (and then to thrombosis, or blood clots).
The Cornell study, published in February 2019, identified 20 cases of thrombocytopenia, suggesting that the blood clots could be reported to the U.S. side effect detection system within 14 days of vaccination with Pfizer or Moderna.
But finding these cases after vaccination is not enough to prove a link.
Nine of them received the Pfizer vaccine and 11 received Moderna’s.
Three of the people identified in the study had a history of blood clots or low platelets, one had a family history of blood clots and already had an abnormal number of platelets – a warning sign for the specific clotting condition that scientists may cause. is by the vaccine of J&J. – in front of their lap.
Fifteen were treated for suspected cases of low platelet count and three had autoimmune conditions that increased the risk of dangerous blood clots or low platelet counts.
Five cases of thrombocytopenia have been reported that cannot be ruled out as related to or unrelated to the vaccines.
Finally, the study found less than one case of low platelet counts per million vaccinations, among the 20 million people who were vaccinated by the end of the study.
The rate of low platelet count ‘seems to be more or less comparable to what would be seen if the cases were accidental after vaccination, and perhaps improved by increased monitoring of symptomatic patients’, the authors of the study written.
This is strikingly different from what is seen in the seven people who got blood clots after getting Johnson & Johnson’s vaccination.
One person who developed thrombocytopenia was as a man in the clinical trial who died.
Then six more women, all between 18 and 48, counted low platelets after receiving the J&J shot in one dose, and one woman died.
It is still a rate of about one in a million, but the symptoms of the women were particularly severe and similar to the problems seen with the vaccination of AstraZeneca in Europe, which eventually led to some countries not more recommended for people under 30.
Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that he doubts the use of J & Js in the US will be completely canceled.
The likely departure of the updated CDC and FDA recommendations, expected Friday, recommends that it be used only for certain age groups and genders, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy told CNN on Monday.