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What Ohio Is Doing With J&J Vaccines That Can't Be Used Right Now

Preparing syringe at Columbus vaccine clinic
Dan Konik
Preparing syringe at Columbus vaccine clinic

Ohio’s mass vaccination clinics and colleges are pausing the use of the Johnson and Johnson vaccines while the CDC and FDA investigate blood clots in 6 women out of the 6.8 million people who have received the shots. But that doesn’t mean that COVID vaccine clinics are canceled. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says some clinics and colleges will offer Moderna and Pfizer vaccines only, eight others will take a week off. He says plenty of shots are available statewide.

Changes at clinics and colleges due to J&J vaccine pause
Credit Gov. Mike DeWine's office
Changes at clinics and colleges due to J&J vaccine pause

But will the sudden pause on the J&J vaccines give vaccine-hesitant Ohioans a reason to pause? Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff with the Ohio Department of Health doesn't think so. He says vaccine hesitant people should be encouraged by this caution. 

“This should be reassuring that the scientific and medical community is really on this and watching very closely to ensure that what people are receiving is, in fact, safe," Vanderhoff says.

Vanderhoff says anyone who received the J&J vaccine in the past few weeks should be alert for a bad headache, aches in lower extremities, nausea and vomiting. And if those symptoms occur, he says patients should consult their doctors. 

Contact Jo Ingles at jingles@statehousenews.org.
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