The first 2,400 doses of J&J were delivered to Estonia and 4,800 doses to Lithuania on Tuesday, the same day Johnson & Johnson announced it would suspend distribution of its Covid-19 vaccine in Europe, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that it be “paused” while six cases of blood clots forming in people after receiving this vaccine are being studied.
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The vaccine manufacturer advised Europe to wait for the ESA to give its opinion on its future use, and in Estonia the same recommendation was made by a panel of immunoprophylaxis experts. The ESA could issue an opinion at the end of next week.
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As the head of the commission, Marisa Jese, emphasized, the experts unanimously agreed that it would be reasonable to wait for the opinion of the ESA, which would also promote a more harmonized approach to the use of vaccines in the European Union and send a clearer message to people.
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According to her, this vaccine, which requires only one dose, would make it easier for Estonia to provide vaccinations for elderly people who are attached to a home due to their health condition and cannot go to a family doctor or vaccination center.
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“We will continue to prepare to start vaccination at home once EZA has given its assessment and the validity of the vaccine has been confirmed,” added Jese.
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Under previous agreements, Estonia is required to receive 330,000 doses of this product.
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The Lithuanian Minister of Health, for his part, pointed out that the decision not to start using J&J for the time being was not determined by the decisions of EZA or the State Medicines Control Service, but only by the manufacturer’s own official request to temporarily store the vaccine.
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“We will be informed about the future use of the vaccine in the coming days,” he said, adding that Lithuania had no plans not to vaccinate people with the vaccine, and intended to use it to vaccinate diplomats and others who had to travel abroad.
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The EZA and FDA are evaluating six cases of thrombosis that have been reported with more than 6.8 million people vaccinated with the J&J vaccine in the United States and will provide opinions on the future use of this vaccine. In all six cases, blood clots formed in women aged 18 to 48 years, six to 13 days after receiving the vaccine.
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