A pause may be detrimental to the vaccination effort in the short term, but transparency will be a better policy in the long term.
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One of his key points was- pause and many more people die from COVID than would have from clots.
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We have several friends in the military who havenāt even been offered this vaccine yet. They are just now getting in because the states they live in are including everyone.
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They probably missed a better option:
Donāt t pause but issue a notice to look for clot symptoms, or even limit use to males and women 50+.
Truthful and science based.
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I agree. At least IRL those I know who wanted J&J havenāt given up on āanyā vaccine. They are just switching to getting one of the others. Pfizer is popular though Iām not sure many get a choice just yet.
They have already issued the notice - along with how to treat it (or at least Iāve seen it multiple times in reports if they didnāt send out an official notice).
Pending what they find doing a closer look, they may restrict eligibility.
Iām not sure that affects many, because like others, I think itās the news itself that folks key in on.
I have a problem in my household. My very reluctant S19 to any vaccine, was almost ready to concede to taking the JnJ. Now i got a text, that he will not be vaccinated and if his school makes him, he is dropping out. This was exactly what he feared, even if he is a male and its a very small sampleāwhat other long term affects lurk with these vaccines is his thoughtāhe considers himself a healthy 20 yo. I had convinced a friend to get vaccinated , but they only wanted the JnJ. Now they will likely wait. So those who were not interested or on the fence, this does set things back. I just hope that the number of people who want the vaccines is a good enough number. (and i will address my S, but probably wont be able to convince him until he is home for the summer from school, so not going to force the issue yet.).
What was the right thing to do? Dealth from Covid >> death from vaccine, but some dont see it that way. Another friend of mine had her BF die from covid but still wont get vaccinated now.
The JnJ was also the vaccine that was used for the homeless, and other transient folks. Now will those folks take just one shot of the others and likely not come back from their second? SIGH. This will NEVER be over. SIGH
J&J was also the vaccine of choice for those who are immune-compromised/have reactions to vaccines 1x instead of 2/folks who donāt want Mrna based vaccine and a whole host of other opinions/facts/beliefs.
It would be very unfortunate to have 2 types of choices instead of 3. I think it will be back on the market very shortly. I heard today that there were 10ās of thousands of vaccines due to be delivered this week which are in limbo.
From the information we have heard, ONE person died from the J&J vaccine. Out of almost 7 MILLION doses.
550,000+ people have DIED from Covid.
From my perspective, the government is pausing to re-access treatments for this unusual type of clotting issue. To bring attention to this very, very rare complication.
When the Pfizer vaccine came out, they found out that there are very rare reactions to the vaccine. There werenāt many people getting the vaccine at that time and information came out that there was a rare reaction. It didnāt really change the rollout probably because so few were receiving the vaccine at that point.
This is only my opinion. Excuses, people are giving excuses why they wonāt now get a vaccine. They had excuses before, wanted one dose, wanted to wait, wanted to wait until it wasnāt an emergency use authorization. Iām not going to change anyoneās mind. But at the end of the day, if you donāt want to be vaccinated and save your and your loved ones life, thatās on you. Itās an excuse. Hundreds of excuses.
Sorry got wound up on that one.
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Our Walmart posted a large sign in the store saying they have free shots available, though by appointment only. Walmart is by far our largest pharmacy. Almost everyone here goes to Walmart. It will be interesting to see how this affects our vaccination rates. I just checked and there are dozens of appointments available each weekday until Tuesday. CVS still has plenty of appointments as well, now at 2 locations in town. And of course, our mass vaccination clinic/mobile units with hundreds going unused each day - though I believe the health department has been scaling back our allotment. (Good! Give them to those who want it.) Our area used to exceed the state average for vaccinations. Our fully vaccinated numbers are still close, but our one shot percentage is steadily falling below average.
As far as the J&J issue, Iāve read lots of comments on our news site about how glad they are that they arenāt going to get vaccinated. Why be a guinea pig with the vaccine when they can ādo the math. The survival rate for covid is 99.3%!ā ummā¦
Itās like those commercials for drugs that fast-talk a HUGE list of possible side effects, including death. The odds of someone having a life-threatening side effect from said drug is infinitesimally small, but mathematically possible. Sort of the same here-- 6 blood clots out of 7 million vaccines.
Nate Silver makes a lot of sense.
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What the last 12 months has illustrated for me is that when people say ātrust the scienceā they simply mean trust the scientists they agree with at a given time. Lots of differing opinions of highly qualified experts (who disagree on anything and everything) from the start of this mess and still today.
These products are EMERGENCY USE AUTHORIZED at this point. Letās be honest, no potential long term effects are known yet. Not that there will be, itās simply not known. Life is full of calculated risks and rewards and if I wanted 100% safety, it would mean refraining from most of what ālivingā entails. I remain firm in the belief that one has the right to decide how to best care for their own body and make decisions based on knowledge acquired while respecting those around you to whom it does pose a danger. My healthy, young kids who it appears this virus poses nearly zero danger to will not be forced to receive it at this time, til more data is known with a widespread FDA approval.
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I saw today that some places here (Ohio) are welcoming walk ins - if they have shots they can get one without an appt.
Obviously they have shots set aside for those with appointments
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Wellā¦ couch potatoes donāt generally have that long of a life either TBH. 
But if youāre implying Covid precautions, we donāt feel weāve missed out on anything awful and have had a lot of benefits we otherwise wouldnāt have had. We had to trade Graduation, Match Day, a few trips, and some other meaningful things in for extra unexpected time with all of our grown kids. We enjoyed it and stayed safe.
I still see light at the end of the tunnel, but once that light is here I honestly think Iām going to miss some of the new normal.
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It is also about managing social trust, which is already at very low levels, rather than about risk level comparisons. Nate Silver correctly points out that the risk of playing COVID-19 lottery far greater than the cerebral venous sinus thrombosis cases that may be vaccine related, but many people will consider an anecdote to be more important than mountains of data (journalists at least implicitly know this, since they will include engaging anecdotal stories in articles that are mainly about some data).
Nothing that the FDA could have done (pause, no pause, no pause but with an advisory, pause only for women under age 50, etc.) would likely have been able to counteract the effect that the news of the cerebral venous sinus thrombosis cases itself makes people less trusting of vaccines, despite the data showing that COVID-19 itself is a much greater risk. But no pause may look like a cover-up that further inflames vaccine suspicion.
It did not used to be that way. Most parent age posters here probably remember getting the oral polio vaccine, a live attenuated virus vaccine. In rare cases, about 2 to 4 in a million, the live attenuated virus mutated back into a virulent one that could cause paralysis. But that risk was accepted compared to the risk of actual polio.
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Truth, transparency, and science, consistently used may build trust in the long term. āpausingā undermines trust in science and the vaccine while also increasing COVID hospitalizations and death. A hard call true, but a bad call IMO.
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To clarify, the 6 cases that have been reported have been CVST. The two people I know had āstrokesā (not sure the difference) both about a week after the vaccine. Doctors did not say it was due to the vaccine, but I am skeptical. One person was in excellent health. The other I do not know as well (he is a new in-law), so Iām not sure about his medical history. Both were about 60. One doesnāt appear to have lasting effects. Iām not sure of the status of the other one. We are currently on vacation so I havenāt been in touch. H and I had been considering the J&J vaccine. This has given us pause. I think the more information that can be shared, the better.
Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis is the very specific type of stroke that has a possible association with the adenovirus-carrier vaccines. It is also more common (both generally and in the suspected vaccine-related cases) in younger women. But it is rare generally ā see Inside Medicine. What Are You Seeing? [COVID-19 medical news] - #3088 by ucbalumnus .
Most strokes are not cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, and it is not a surprise that some older people out of millions getting vaccines coincidentally have strokes shortly after getting vaccines, not because of the vaccines. Other typical coincidences include nursing home residents in poor general health dying shortly after vaccination, or toddlers being diagnosed with autism shortly after getting typical child vaccines.
Well, thereās no proof the vaccines didnāt cause the strokes, or that they did. It is something that has me, personally, reconsidering J&J, at least until further investigation provides more information. Other people may decide itās nothing to worry about. Both are acceptable reactions.
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California opened to 16 + today. There is a ton of availability at CVS locations.
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