US advisory panel postpones ending pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Use of the one-dose Covid-19 shot largely halted in the US over blood-clotting concerns

A US healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine. Bloomberg

A US health panel on Wednesday said it wanted more data before voting to resume use of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 shot, even as a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist said warnings could mitigate the risk of rare but serious blood clots.

The advisory panel is expected to reconvene in a week to 10 days.

The panel is reviewing six reported cases of rare brain blood clots in women who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a day after federal regulators paused its use to assess the issue.

Dr Lynn Batha, an epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health, and several others are in favour of extending the pause to gather more safety information.

"By having more robust information, I think we can be more confident about how we talk about the safety of this vaccine," she told other members of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel.

Earlier, the FDA's deputy director for vaccine development, Doran Fink, told the panel that his thinking was that warning statements and communications from the federal agency would allow doctors to weigh the risks and benefits of the vaccine.

Other panel members, however, expressed concern that extending the pause could worsen issues related to equitable access to the vaccine, which is seen as important for serving hard-to-reach communities or other countries because it can be stored in normal refrigerators and can be given in one dose instead of two.

One committee member, Dr Grace Lee of Stanford University, was among those who advocated delaying a vote. She echoed concerns about receiving more data to better understand the size of the risk and whether it was greater for any particular group of people.

"I continue to feel like we're in a race against time and the variants, but we need to [move forward] in the safest possible way," Dr Lee said.

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