I’m sure you’ve heard that the J&J vaccine has been paused so the CDC and FDA can evaluate whether the 6 people out of five million got a rare blood clot presents a larger problem. Here’s some perspective on the risk:
“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, issued in a joint statement. “Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.”
Notably, there have been 5 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines administered in the United States, with only six cases of blood clots. According to CDC estimates, around 60,000-100,000 Americans die of blood clots every year, or between 160 and 275 every day. The average American’s lifetime risk of developing a blood clot falls between 2 to 5 percent, and their relative risk increases with age, obesity, illness, and surgery.
Because mass vaccinations involve millions of people, it is not uncommon for unrelated, random illnesses to be misinterpreted as resulting from the vaccine. Statistically, in a sample size of 5 million — the number of people who have been given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States — between 2.4 and 4.2 of those 5 million people would, on an average day, die of a blood clot for reasons unrelated to the vaccine.
Johnson & Johnson has maintained that there is “no clear causal relationship” between their vaccine and the blood clots, according to CNBC, but the company is currently working with regulators to investigate the incidents. In a statement provided to Fox News, the pharmaceutical giant said that “safety and well-being of people who use our products” is still its first priority, and that it was already aware of an “extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals who have received our COVID-19 vaccine.”
The blood clot, called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, is primarily seen in people with low platelet levels. However, it is extremely rare and requires a specific kind of treatment. “Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered,” the CDC and FA stated. “Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given.”
I understand why they are doing this. The vaccines were rolled out very quickly and there have been so many lies and conspiracies during COVID, particularly around the use of drugs (Hydroxychloroquine anyone?) they believe they have to be extremely scrupulous about investigating any possible side effects in order to maintain the confidence of the public. They are caught between a rock and a hard place because many of the vaccine hesitant are looking for reasons to reject the vaccine and as long as they do that they continue to provide a host for the virus to mutate into vaccine resistant variants and risk spreading the virus to others. But, at the same time, they simply cannot cover anything up or they risk the same thing , and all future credibility, when these reports of rare side effects inevitably get out.
This is yet another effect of our diseased information system, poor science education and general loss of faith in institutions. I think they’re doing the best they can. Our society is in very poor shape right now in many ways, but this may be the most dangerous to our ability to survive in the future.