Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360].
San Mateo County will resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to all eligible residents who wish to be immunized, after Bay Area Health Officials agreed with the findings of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), along with the Western States Scientific Safety Review WSSSR? that the vaccine is safe.
Last Friday, April 23, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that they would accept ACIP's recommendations to lift the pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for all adults.
Thus, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Solano counties and the City of Berkeley will resume administering the Janssen vaccine to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community to avoid serious illness and more deaths.
Through a statement, health officials in the region agree that the risk of developing the rare clotting disorder is extremely low.
According to the CDC, to date there have been only 15 confirmed cases of the rare clotting event among nearly 8 million total doses administered in the U.S., all in women, which translates to a risk of less than two cases per million doses overall, and seven cases per million doses in women aged 18-49 years.
Meanwhile, for those who have a confirmed case of COVID-19, the risk of dying from it in the United States is 1 in 56, officials said.
The region's Health Officials also support the addition of a warning label and the WSSSR recommendation that culturally and linguistically appropriate informational materials be made available at an accessible reading level so that members of the public can make an informed decision.
However, they strongly urged the public to get vaccinated as soon as possibleall vaccines have been shown to be highly effective in preventing hospitalization or death from COVID-19.
They also noted that people who are fully vaccinated are also much less likely to be contagious or transmit the virus to another person. "The longer you wait to get vaccinated, the greater the risk of contracting COVID-19 and infecting a friend, loved one or co-worker."
Persons who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should contact their primary health care provider if they have concerns or if they develop severe symptoms of headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or difficulty breathing within three weeks after vaccination.
The safety of the COVID-19 vaccine is a top priority for Bay Area Health Officials, so they will continue to monitor the situation and look to CDC for any additional guidance in the future, they concluded.
