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Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 Vaccine Is Back In Play. LA County Says It Has Nearly 100K Doses On Hand
A vial of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. (Phill Magakoe /AFP Getty Images)
Los Angeles County health officials said they're ready to quickly resume use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine Friday, after the vaccine was put back into rotation.
The federal government had paused distribution 10 days ago to investigate the risk of rare, severe blood clots. Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined the benefits outweigh the risk.
The L.A County Public Health Department is putting together educational materials to hand out with the vaccine, said Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon.
The materials will include "really important information about what to look for, the signs and symptoms if you were to have this very rare reaction," he said. "And we are going to underscore, this is a very rare reaction."
Providers that get their vaccine from the county have about 19,000 doses sitting on shelves, "and we think there's another 75,000 doses that may be sitting on shelves at 150 pharmacies across the county that received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine directly from the federal government," said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
The department will be issuing a press release shortly notifying providers they can resume administering the one-dose J&J vaccine on Saturday, according to Ferrer.
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