The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has paused administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Wisconsin.
Deputy Health Services Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk said the pause is proof oversight is working, and will allow vaccine administrators to reach out, regarding extremely rare instances of blood clots associated with J&J vaccine.
“So I hope Wisconsinites can hear those kinds of actions as ways to increase safety, rather than making them more hesitant and fearful,” Willems Van Dijk said.
The DHS action follows recommendations by the CDC and Food & Drug Administration.
“I want to be really clear, this is a pause, not the end of J&J,” Willems Van Dijk said.
There were six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot forming, out of the nearly seven million doses of the vaccine so far administered.
Willems Van Dijk said the pause comes as Wisconsin was expecting only 3,000 thousand doses of the J&J vaccine next week, while it maintains about 150,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna. “Ninety six percent of the vaccines given in Wisconsin, have been Pfizer or Moderna doses,” she said.