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FACT BRIEF

Has the US permanently discontinued use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine?

Friday, April 16, 2021
By Lisa Freedland
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NO

Use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. has been temporarily paused, according to a statement released by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control on April 13, 2021.

With 6.8 million doses of the vaccine distributed, the reason for the pause is “six reported cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot after receiving the J&J vaccine” among women between 18 and 48 years old. These cases were characterized by a combination of the blood clot type “cerebral venous sinus thrombosis” with “low levels of blood platelets.”

The agencies have said that they will separately meet to review these cases and assess the seriousness of the situation.

Similar clotting effects have been reported among a small number of people who have received a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in Europe. That vaccine has not been authorized for use in the U.S.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
US Food and Drug Administration CDC & FDA statement on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine
US Food and Drug Administration Joint media call, CDC & FDA (April 13, 2021)
MIT Technology Review Why is it so hard to review the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? Data
Advisory Board Will the J&J vaccine 'pause' build trust in vaccine safety—or fuel vaccine hesitancy?
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Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.