CDC advisers meet to consider future of J&J COVID-19 shot linked to blood clots, deaths

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisers are meeting Thursday to consider limits on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine over concerns about patients who have already received the shot developing blood clots.

The side-effect is occurring among males and females, but most among 30-to-49 year-old women, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The single-dose vaccine has been linked to a rare and severe type of blood clot, which halted its use for 10 days in April as federal health officials looked more closely at six women who experienced the problem, according to The Washington Post. The cases were the only known ones among roughly 7 million people in the U.S. who received J&J's shot. However, in one instance, it was fatal.

The pause was lifted after a safety review determined the vaccine’s benefits outweighed the risks.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will on Thursday be presented with new data that appears to show the rate of the clots in people who received the Johnson & Johnson shot has increased since April, although the problem is still rare. There have been about nine deaths related to the issue, a federal official familiar with the situation told The Post.