The Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine has been suspended after reports of a rarer blood clot due to the vaccine. The countries that have halted the used of the vaccine currently include the US, South Africa and the European Union
Six cases were detected in more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. Johnson and Johnson has paused its EU rollout, which started this week.
The suspension of Johnson and Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine could delay efforts to vaccinate most people in the European Union by over two months to December, according to a forecast by scientific information and analytics company Airfinity.
“If the EU can’t use the J&J vaccine indefinitely it could push the timeline for vaccinating 75 per cent of the population back into December,” London-based Airfinity said in a forecast update provided to Reuters.
Without J&J, the EU would reach 75 percent coverage, the approximate benchmark for achieving herd immunity, by December 8, Airfinity projected, representing slippage of more than two months from an earlier expected date of September 30.
