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CDC panel recommends Pfizer, Moderna vaccines over J&J shot

Published:Thursday | December 16, 2021 | 5:03 PM
A member of the Philadelphia Fire Department prepares a dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site setup in Philadelphia, on March 26, 2021. A government advisory panel is meeting Thursday, December 16, to determine if any restrictions are needed to the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine because of rare but serious blood clots. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Most Americans should be given the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot that can cause rare but serious blood clots, United States health advisers recommended Thursday.

The strange clotting problem has caused nine confirmed deaths after J&J vaccinations — while the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don't come with that risk and also appear to be more effective, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

It's an unusual move and the CDC's director, Dr Rochelle Walensky, must decide whether to accept the panel's advice.

Until now the US has treated all three COVID-19 vaccines available to Americans as an equal choice since large studies found they all offered strong protection and early supplies were limited.

J&J's vaccine initially was welcomed as a single-dose option that could be especially important for hard-to-reach groups like homeless people who might not get the needed second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna options.

Overall, the government has confirmed 54 clot cases in both women and men, and nine deaths that included two men, Dr. Isaac See of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. He said two additional deaths are suspected.

The CDC decides how vaccines should be used in the US, and its influential advisory committee is deliberating whether the newest safety data warrants any new limits on J&J's vaccine.

More than 200 million Americans are fully vaccinated, about 16 million of them with the J&J vaccine.

The other two vaccines used in the US -- from Pfizer and Moderna -- are made differently and regulators say they don't come with this clot risk.

And unlike in the spring when vaccine supplies were tight, Pfizer and Moderna shots now are plentiful in the US.

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