Colorado pauses use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine

In response to the joint announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration and out of an abundance of caution, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Colorado Joint Vaccine Task Force are alerting providers to temporarily pause use of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine.

Federal health officials, on April 13, recommended temporarily suspending use of the vaccine after reviewing reports of six individuals in the U.S. who got rare and severe blood clots after receiving the vaccine. The federal government is allowing states to determine whether to pause use, and CDPHE is requiring providers to stop administration of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine until additional information becomes available.

One of the reasons the FDA and CDC are recommending this pause is to ensure health care providers are aware of these potential but rare adverse events and can respond accordingly. The treatment for these types of blood clots is not the common treatment and thus time is needed to make sure health care providers know how to recognize and treat these rare occurrences.

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