Thread by @kakape

“While these events are very rare, we’re recommending a pause in the use of the J&J #COVID19 vaccine in order to prepare the healthcare system to recognize and treat patients appropriately and to report severe events they may be seeing in people”, says @CDCgov’s Anne Schuchat.

@CDCgov Q how long the pause may be
“The timeframe will depend obviously on what we learn in the next few days. However, we expect it to be a matter of days for this pause”, says @DrWoodcockFDA.

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA "The issue here with these types of blood clots, is that if one administers the standard treatments that we as doctors have learned to give for blood clots, one can actually cause tremendous harm or the outcome can be fatal”, says Peter Marks.

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA “One needs to make sure that providers are aware that if they see people who have low blood platelets, or if they see people who have blood clots, they need to inquire about the history of recent vaccination, and then act accordingly”, says Marks.

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA "We have not detected this type of syndrome with the low platelets among the other vaccines”, says @DrWoodcockFDA. “We're taking this pause and precautions around the J&J product in the context of a large, robust and highly safe and effective vaccination effort."

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA “At this time, it's not clear that there's any association with oral contraceptive pill, birth control in the individuals who have these blood clots”, says Marks.

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA “It's too early to make any speculation on how many cases will come out, I do agree with you that it's possible we will learn of more cases, and that's part of the reason why we're taking the pause to try to ascertain that”, says Marks. “Hopefully it's just going to be a few."

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA Q: will this set back vaccination efforts?
“The vaccine supply has become more abundant over time, and I think that this temporary pause is hopefully not going to have a large adverse effect on making those goals in a timely manner if at all”, says Marks.

@CDCgov @DrWoodcockFDA Is this a class effect, asks @HelenBranswell.
“I hesitate to call it a class effect”, says Marks. “But I think it is plainly obvious to us already that what we're seeing with the Janssen vaccine looks very similar to what was being seen with the AstraZeneca vaccine."