Vaccination efforts continue as one placed on 'pause'

A vial of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine sits on a table at a pop-up vaccination site at the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, in the Staten Island borough of New York, on April 8. - The Associated Press
A vial of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine sits on a table at a pop-up vaccination site at the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, in the Staten Island borough of New York, on April 8. - The Associated Press

Following a federal recommendation, the Arkansas Department of Health advised COVID-19 vaccine distributors in the state on Tuesday to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women who were among more than 6.8 million vaccinated with it nationwide experienced "unusual clots."

According to The Associated Press, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday they were investigating unusual clots in the six women between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman who received the vaccine died.

The clots, which occurred six to 13 days after vaccination in veins that drain blood from the brain, occurred together with low platelets, the fragments in blood that normally form clots, the AP reported. Out of the more than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine administered in the U.S., the vast majority have had no or mild side effects, it said.

With COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy being seen in Garland County, a local pharmacist, the county health officer and the county judge all agreed that despite the investigation being launched into the J&J vaccine, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been proven effective and safe.

Lance Smith, pharmacist and Smith Drug and Compounding Inc. owner, said his pharmacy has administered about 200 J&J vaccines but has paused the administration as it waits for further advisement from ADH.

"I think it's important to keep the perspective that this is six out of millions of vaccines that have been given," Smith said. Women in the 18-48 age group are "predisposed to blood clots already; so they have a higher incidence -- without the vaccine or any other issues -- they still have a higher rate of clotting than any other group."

"From what I've seen," he said, "I think that the halt is just to, or the pause I guess I would say, is just to kind of double-check. I do think it is still less than one in a million chance of having that."

Smith said his pharmacy will continue to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

"I don't think it (the J&J vaccine side effects) would affect Pfizer and Moderna at all," he said. "It's a different type of technology, and they haven't seen any of the same clotting issues that I'm aware of."

County Health Officer Dr. Gene Shelby said the vaccine hesitancy has been seen in the 17,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the county currently going unused.

"There have been no problems with the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine, and they've given millions and millions of doses of it, so I think it's still really, really important to get vaccinated if we're really going to stop the pandemic," Shelby said.

"My concern is that we won't reach any kind of herd immunity if we have such a low percentage of people getting the vaccine, and that we'll be dealing with this for a longer period of time," he said.

"Our (COVID-19 case) numbers," Shelby said, "have definitely come down and stabilized, (but) this past week we have seen a little bit of an uptick in our active cases in the county, but if we don't get people out and vaccinated this is just something we're going to be dealing with for a long time."

Shelby said 60-70% of the county needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, but at the rate the local vaccine rollout is going, "we'll be lucky" to get 50%.

With mutations and variants of the COVID-19 virus coming about, he said a spike will be seen without enough people vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.

County Judge Darryl Mahoney said he fears another "wave" of COVID-19 is on its way, too.

"I think we're seeing low numbers, as far as new cases in Garland County and the state. People feel like it's over with. If you look around the country in other areas we're starting to see another wave. I encourage everybody that can get the vaccine to come and get it. Garland County has a lot of vaccine on hand," Mahoney said.

"It's good insurance to have," he said. "I've taken it. We have a large percentage of our staff both at the detention center, the sheriff's office and in our other offices who have taken the vaccine. Overall, we've had great results from it. I don't think we have anybody with a positive case right now.

"I hope we don't see another wave here, because people are really starting to relax. The best way to keep another wave from occurring is to get the vaccine."

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