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Here’s what the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine pause means for Charlotte

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Both of Charlotte’s major hospital systems Novant Health and Atrium Health along with Mecklenburg County Public Health will stop using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine during a pause recommended by the U.S Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The federal agencies called for a temporary halt in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six people who received the shot — out of more than 6.8 million nationwide — developed a “rare and severe type of blood clot,” according a joint statement from the FDA and CDC.

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And the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday morning it would temporarily stop using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said she expects to hear a decision on further recommendations for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the FDA and the CDC within a few days time. The rare blood clot occurred in roughly one in one million vaccine recipients, Harris added.

There are no reports of similar concerns in the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, county medical director Dr. Meg Sullivan said Tuesday.

“They remain very safe and effective vaccines,” she said.

Due to regulatory issues, Novant Health was not expecting to receive any Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses this week.

And Atrium Health had no Johnson & Johnson vaccine appointments scheduled for the near future, according to the hospital system.

In a statement Tuesday, Atrium Health emphasized the pause in vaccine administration is “out of an abundance of caution.”

Novant Health is unaware of any similar complications from the vaccine in Novant patients, Dr. David Priest, infectious disease expert, told reporters Tuesday. Across the Novant system, health care workers have administered around 22,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“These events are incredibly rare, but they’re serious,” Priest said.

All six cases of the rare blood clot occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, according to the FDA and CDC. Symptoms appeared 6 to 13 days after vaccination.

Priest said anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than two weeks ago is likely no longer at risk for adverse symptoms.

“If it’s been less than two weeks since you got your (Johnson & Jonson) vaccine, any complication would be very rare but we suggest you monitor for symptoms,” Priest said.

UNC Charlotte announced no future vaccine clinics would use the J&J shot, pending review from the CDC and FDA.

“We are investigating our ability to offer Moderna and Pfizer vaccines through on-campus clinics going forward,” UNCC officials said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

As of late Monday, 28.6% of Mecklenburg residents are at least partially vaccinated and 19.8% are fully vaccinated, according to N.C. DHHS.

Vaccine hesitancy concerns

After months of scarce vaccine supply, North Carolina’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines may be finally outpacing demand, Priest said Tuesday.

Now, health experts are worried vaccine hesitancy could slow the pace of vaccinations, especially with the Johnson & Johnson news. Vaccine hesitancy is “of great concern,” Novant Health’s Dr. Jerome Williams Jr. said Tuesday.

Novant Health will continue to address vaccine hesitancy through “transparency and open, honest conversations,” he said.

The risks of COVID-19 to the Charlottte-area community outweigh risks of side effects from vaccines, Atrium Health infectious disease expert Dr. Katie Passaretti said Tuesday.

“These side effects are extremely rare and we have seen time and time again, the impact of COVID on our communities,” Passaretti said. “… My biggest concern is that vaccine hesitancy just skyrocketed.”

Sullivan said the call to halt administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines could provide reassurance for some people nervous about vaccines.

“This is a very small number of cases that we saw,” she said. “But I think it shows that when in doubt, erring on the side of caution and safety really is the top priority.”

Anyone age 16 and up is currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccine appointments in North Carolina, though the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are only eligible to people age 18 and up. Pfizer is the only vaccine available to 16 and 17 year olds.

“We’re continuing to strongly encourage everyone to be vaccinated as soon as they can get an appointment,” Harris said Tuesday.

J&J vaccine in North Carolina

The vaccine news comes days after Mecklenburg County said it would continue using the vaccine after a CDC investigation of side effects that included lightheadedness and dizziness.

Gaston County is also pausing the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, including some appointments scheduled for Tuesday, the county said on Facebook.

In a statement Tuesday morning, White House COVID-19 Response coordinator Jeff Zients said discontinuing for now the use of the J&J vaccine is not likely to derail plans to provide 3 million doses of vaccines per day in the U.S. Currently, Zients said, the “Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5 percent of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date.”

In Mecklenburg, multiple vaccine clinics had been scheduled to use the J&J vaccine.

A Mecklenburg County Public Health event at Charlotte’s Camp North End was scheduled to give out 2,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses Saturday. The county will instead administer the Pfizer vaccine at that event.

The health department has also administered the J&J vaccine to homebound residents who are unable to travel to clinics due to physical or mental disabilities. At the start of the month, health officials said they’d received more than 500 requests.

The county has been able to keep most of those appointments, providing the Pfizer vaccine instead, Sullivan said.

And Novant had already scheduled some patients for Johnson & Johnson appointments, including some appointments scheduled for Tuesday. Those patients will be offered the Pfizer vaccine instead, Priest said.

Atrium Health hosted two J&J vaccine events last weekend at the Bank of America Stadium.

The J&J vaccine has comprised the smallest share of the state’s allocation to date. During the week of March 29, for example, North Carolina received 259,680 first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, along with just 58,800 doses of J&J, according to information obtained in an Observer public records request.

And for the week of March 22, the state received 237,560 first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, but only 11,500 doses of J&J.

Observer reporter Alison Kuznitz contributed to this story.