A Nevada woman who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine reportedly underwent three brain surgeries to repair blood clots associated with the shot.
Emma Burkey, 18, reportedly fell ill about a week after receiving the shot on April 1, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing a family spokeswoman.
According to family spokesman Bret Johnson, Burkey suffered seizures and was later placed in an induced coma and on a respirator, although the 18-year-old has since improved, although it has been slow, and is now awake and off the respirator.
She still needs a tracheostomy tube, which affects her ability to speak. However, her family said she could utter a few words and would blink to communicate.
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“She’s improving slowly,” Johnson told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “The word we got from her parents last night was ‘slow, slow slow’.”
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, issued a recommended break on the J&J COVID-19 vaccine after six cases of a rare, severe blood clot were reported amid the background of more than 6.8 million recipients.
The cases under investigation by the CDC Committee concern six women between the ages of 18 and 48, whose serious adverse events occurred within six to 13 days after vaccination. Most of them experienced headaches, and one of the women died while another was in critical condition.
A seventh case has since come to light, although this case did not occur in the brain like the other six.
There have never been such cases of the rare but serious clotting issue called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) with a low platelet count in nearly 200 million vaccinations between Moderna and Pfizer.
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“If you follow the national news, the J&J vaccine was set up because of these rare cases. Emma is unfortunately the ‘one in a million here’,” reads a GoFundMe in the woman’s name.
Burkey’s parents, Russ and Kathy, “have been on Emma’s side since it all started,” it continues. “Her older brother, Cooper, is keeping the household quiet while they are all in Southern California,” where the 18-year-old is being treated at Loma Linda Hospital’s special unit for neural treatment.
A CDC committee did not vote on the guidelines, but is expected to do so Friday.
Foxla’s Kayla Rivas contributed to this report.