Editor’s Note: This article was written before the announcement that the J&J vaccine is back to being distributed.

After a few months of being on the market, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine distribution has been paused in accordance with the Center for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation. This decision arose after the FDA reported that six women developed rare blood clots in their brains, one of whom died.

While the vaccine is on pause, health experts in the CDC will be investigating why, out of the 6.8 million people who received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, these six women developed blood clots, and whether the cause stemmed from the vaccination or an unknown, external factor.

Because so few people received these symptoms, CDC workers had the option to warn prospective recipients of this vaccine about the possible side effects rather than end its distribution. However, the decision to fully pause the J&J vaccine is due to many doctors not knowing how to properly treat these blood clots. In order to secure the safety of many Americans, health experts decided that the best decision was to pause the vaccine distribution until they could solve the issue.

On Sunday Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House Medical advisor, stated that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will likely be back on the market very soon but it will have a warning attached.

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/johnson-johnson-vaccine-should-be-paused-u-s-after-extremely-n1263898
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/18/fauci-us-will-likely-resume-use-of-jj-covid-vaccine-with-a-warning.html