Ochsner Lafayette General to Pause All Use of Johnson & Johnson / Janssen Vaccine

Today, the FDA and CDC released new guidance recommending that healthcare providers pause the administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine. This decision was made so that reports of a rare type of blood clot, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, could be investigated to determine if there is a correlation between the vaccine and this medical condition. Although this side effect is exceptionally rare – only impacting six patients out of 6.8 million doses given – use of this vaccine is being paused out of an abundance of caution until more information is available.

Ochsner Health learned of this guidance this morning and has halted use of the J&J vaccine at all vaccine clinics effective immediately. Patients who were scheduled to receive J&J at an Ochsner Lafayette General vaccination site will now receive the 2-dose Pfizer vaccine. Any patients impacted by this change will be contacted directly and have the option to reschedule. The Pfizer vaccine uses messenger RNA, or mRNA, which is different from the viral vector technology used to produce the J&J vaccine.

The safety of our patients and community is our highest priority. While we have not seen any of our patients experience this type of reaction, we took immediate action upon learning of this guidance and will pause the use of J&J until further notice. We have adequate supply of Pfizer vaccines and will not need to cancel or reschedule upcoming appointments or vaccine events.

We will continue to keep our patients and community informed about this evolving situation. For the latest information, please visit OchsnerLG.org/Vaccine.