Vaccine pause in Delaware negligible for now

The recent pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not affect Delaware's vaccination efforts in the coming week, but if the vaccine is kept out of the loop for much longer it could make an impact, officials say.

“It won't affect the state clinics over the next week, but there are several thousand Johnson & Johnson vaccines that were coming to the state directly to the pharmacies, so it's our expectation that those appointments will have to be canceled. So that affects people,” said Gov. John Carney during his April 13 press conference.

State clinics are basically concentrating on second shots, and administering the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines in upcoming mass vaccination events run by the state at Dover International Speedway, he said.

And even though there is less supply with Johnson & Johnson on hold, Carney said, it comes at a time when the demand is less intense than it was months ago.

“We hope it's just a brief pause,” he said. “If it goes on beyond that, then it will have a larger impact on our operations and continue to impact the pharmacies.”

Dr. Karyl Rattay, Division of Public Health director, said the state had taken into account receiving less Johnson & Johnson vaccine after millions of doses were taken out of service because of a recent mishap at a manufacturing plant.

“We'd already adjusted to that, and additionally [we've] been pivoting away from Dover International Speedway to more community events for vaccine distribution, in large part because NASCAR is coming up and our time there was limited anyway,” she said.

The Centers for Disease Control put a hold on the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine April 13 after six women ages 18-48 developed blood clots after receiving the shot. One woman died, and another is in critical condition. Food and Drug Administration and CDC officials said April 13 that the cases were connected to low blood platelets. About 7 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered, and the six cases represent a less than 1 in a million chance of having complications from the shot. “The combination of low platelets and blood clots is very rare,” said Peter Marks, an FDA director.

CDC officials said April 14 that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be paused for a week as they gather more information on the six cases.