Raleigh, NC Several COVID-19 vaccine suppliers have stopped administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after some adverse reactions were reported on Thursday.
Wake County spokeswoman Stacy Beard said 18 people had an adverse reaction to the vaccine at the PNC Arena clinic. More than 2,300 Johnson & Johnson vaccines were administered at the clinic on Thursday, meaning 0.78% of vaccine recipients responded.
Fourteen people who responded were evaluated by Wake County EMS at PNC Arena and treated on the spot. Four people have been taken to a local hospital for evaluation and are expected to be released.
Symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, fainting and one allergic reaction have been reported by those who have reported reactions.
“All individuals are monitored. If they are concerned, we keep an eye on them for 30 minutes. Most indications were caught early on,” said Ryan Jury, who oversees the Wake County vaccination effort.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Thursday night that vaccinations be continued at PNC Arena after health experts found no safety issues or cause for concern.
In a statement, the CDC said it was aware of vaccine recipients reporting dizziness, lightheadedness, fainting, rapid breathing and sweating after receiving the vaccine in Iowa, Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina.
Before the CDC was announced, provincial health official Johnson and Johnson’s vaccinations stopped on Friday. The mass vaccination clinic is offering the Pfizer two-dose vaccination only on Friday.
“There are other products we’ve been using for months, but if you look at how long we’ve been using the Johnson & Johnson product, it’s not necessarily that long. So we’m not sure what’s normal, what’s not normal. We’re really in our infancy right now, and [we’re] ‘just to try to evaluate the causes of this, there is no reason to worry,’ Jury said.
Places, phone numbers to get your COVID recording in Central NC
“There is no greater priority than the safety and well-being of the people we serve. When we receive reports of side effects in individuals receiving our medicines and vaccinations, we gather the necessary information and evaluate the events carefully. Reports on individuals who receive our COVID The vaccine and our review of the reports are shared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other relevant health authorities as part of the process of notifying health authorities of comprehensive drug monitoring programs, vaccines that are allowed to be used against this pandemic, ‘a Johnson & Johnson spokesman said in a statement about the negative reaction to the vaccine at PNC Arena.
The Johnson & Johnson doses in Wake County will be kept and stored until additional information is collected.
UNC Health spokesman Alan Wolf said the medical system was interrupting the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at all UNC Health vaccine clinics, after a small number of recipients felt faint in the Friday center on Thursday.
In a statement, UNC Health said more than 2,200 Johnson & Johnson vaccines had been administered at the Friday Center and Hillsborough Hospital. The specific number of people responding to the vaccine was not given.
Wolf said UNC Health will re-evaluate for Friday, and the pause is until officials can better determine what is going on.
Dr. David Wohl, a specialist in infectious diseases at UNC Health, said health experts will study safety reports over the next few days, look at each response and look for ways to calm those who are nervous.
“I don’t think it’s an allergic reaction. Most people I saw here today who felt faint had a history of feeling faint, especially around needles. So it’s very difficult,” Wohl explained. “We also vaccinate other people than we did before. People often take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it is harmful to needles and they do not want to shoot. We’re just trying to make sure it’s the vaccine or the people taking the vaccine. take or a combination of both. ‘
Coronavirus vaccinations in NC
Duke University’s health system said Johnson & Johnson vaccines will continue to administer the vaccines as no adverse reactions have been reported at their clinics.
“Duke Health received Janssen (J&J) vaccine from the same lot number identified in the Wake County vaccine clinic, but the shipment was sent directly to Duke without any intermediary. No patients at Duke experienced serious incidents. Minor side effects of the vaccine are consistent with those reported by the manufacturer prior to approval, and remain within the expected dose, “said Thomas Owens, president of Duke University Hospital and senior vice president of Duke Health. a statement said.
Of the 2.2 million people fully vaccinated against coronavirus in North Carolina, only 8% received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. That means about 167,000 people received the vaccine, or about 1.5% of the state’s population.
The number of people receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is likely to increase as the number of doses entering the state has increased dramatically. This week, the state received nearly 150,000 doses, compared to less than 60,000 last week. That was more than the number of vaccinations against Moderna and Pfizer that came into the state this week.
