The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines over Johnson & Johnson’s shot for adults, after finding dozens of people developed a rare blood clot condition following vaccination with J&J shots.
All of those patients were hospitalized, and nine died.
The CDC has confirmed 54 cases of people developing blood clots and showing low blood platelet levels — a new condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, which mostly affects younger women. Of those cases, 36 required treatment in intensive care.
In a statement Thursday evening, the CDC said the U.S. has an abundant supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The agency emphasized that people who are unwilling or unable to receive Pfizer and Moderna shots will still have access to the J&J vaccine.
The CDC’s expert vaccine panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, voted unanimously in favor of the recommendation earlier Thursday. Hours later, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky gave her endorsement.
“Today’s updated recommendation emphasizes CDC’s commitment to provide real-time scientific information to the American public,” Walensky said.
The U.S. has administered more than 17 million J&J doses since the Food and Drug Administration authorized the shot on an emergency basis in February. Overall, 3.8 TTS cases were reported per million doses administered, according to the CDC. The rates were highest among women 30 to 49 years old.
Panel experts said the J&J shot may still make sense for people who would have allergic reactions to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or if a patient doesn’t have access to any other shot.
However, the CDC recommendation delivers another blow to confidence in Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine. The U.S. briefly paused administration of the shots in April when TTS cases first started emerging.
“The TTS case reporting rates following Janssen vaccines is higher than previous estimates in men as well as women in a wider age range,” Dr. Keipp Talbot, chair of the CDC’s vaccine and safety subgroup, told the advisory panel. Janssen is J&J’s vaccines division.
Seven of the patients who died were women and two were men, with a median age of 45. Most of the people who died had underlying health conditions such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes. The death reporting rate was 0.57 fatalities per million doses administered, according to the CDC.
“We’ve been struck on reviewing these cases by how rapidly patient status deteriorates and results in death,” Dr. Isaac See of the CDC’s vaccine safety team told the advisory panel.
Patients typically developed symptoms nine days after vaccination and were hospitalized five days after they developed symptoms, according to the CDC. The overwhelming majority of patients were women, 37 total, and the median age was 44. Seventeen men developed TTS.
