Janssen Delays The Launch Of Its Vaccine In Europe
JANSSEN Delays The Launch Of Its Vaccine In Europe After Blood Clot Cases In America
Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the Janssen single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, has announced today (Tuesday 13), that it is delaying the expected launch in Europe, after its use was halted in America due to reports of six cases of blood clotting, or thrombi, being detected.
Janssen said in a statement, “We have reviewed these cases with the European health authorities. We have made the decision to proactively delay the launch of our vaccine in Europe”.
Spain was supposed to receive 300,000 doses of Janssen today, as announced last week by Carolina Darias, Spain’s Minister of Health, 26,000 of which were destined for distribution in Andalucía.
This decision will have a huge impact on an already slow vaccine rollout in the 27 member states of the EU, with 55 million Janssen doses having been expected to arrive in Europe between April and June, after the setbacks with the AstraZeneca vaccine, although, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) had issued a statement which said their research led them to believe the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe to continue being administered.
Stella Kyriakides, the EU Health Commissioner, posted in the bloc’s social networks, saying, “Current developments with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States are being monitored by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and its pharmacovigilance bodies”.
The EMA explained this Tuesday that it is still “investigating” the cases of thromboembolism detected in people who had received the Janssen jabs in the United States, and that “currently it is not clear whether there is a causal association” between the vaccine and these conditions.
An EMA spokeswoman reportedly assured the EFE agency that its safety committee has initiated “a review of a safety signal” in relation to these cases, but the investigation is still ongoing and “will decide whether regulatory action may be necessary”.
It is estimated that around seven million Americans have received the Janssen vaccine, with sex cases of thrombi being reported, so clot cases would account for 0.0008% of immunized people, as reported by elpais.com.
Published euroweekly 13 April 2021