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With the federal government again approving its use Friday, Los Angeles County will quickly resume administration of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, with required warning materials about rare instances of blood clots.<\/p>\n
The county’s chief science officer, Dr. Paul Simon, told reporters in an online briefing that the county has about 13,000 doses of the J&J vaccine on hand, while another 25,000 doses may be in the possession of other providers such as pharmacies and health centers that receive allocations of vaccine directly from the state or federal governments.<\/p>\n
An advisory committee for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Friday that the J&J vaccine re-enter circulation, with a warning about potentially dangerous blood-clotting that occurred in 15 people — out of about 7 million doses administered nationwide — and prompted a hold on the vaccine earlier this month.\u00a0Within hours, the committee’s recommendation was adopted by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, clearing the way for administration of the vaccine to resume.<\/p>\n
“We’re in the process of developing, or at least finalizing now, the educational materials that will be used for clients and also for providers so that we can move forward,” Simon said.<\/p>\n
Simon said Friday afternoon the county could resume offering the shots within one or two days. By early Friday evening, the county Department of Public Health announced that local vaccine providers could resume using the J&J shots, as long as they provide recipients with updated “fact sheets” providing information about the blood clots.\u00a0Simon continued to promote the safety of the vaccines, noting the low rate of the blood-clotting cases that forced a hold on the vaccine 10 days ago. He called it an “excellent vaccine.”<\/p>\n
“This side effect appears to be very, very rare, and we feel that there shouldn’t be any reluctance on the part of people to be vaccinated with the J&J vaccine,” he said.<\/p>\n
There have been fears that news of the blood clots that forced a halt to the vaccine’s use would contribute to public hesitancy in general about getting vaccinated. While it is difficult to measure that impact, Los Angeles County has seen a drop-off in people making appointments at some of its vaccination sites.\u00a0The county announced Thursday that it will administer shots on a walk- in basis, without appointments, at all of its large-scale vaccination sites through the weekend. That’s a stark change from the early days of the vaccination effort, when appointments were in short supply.<\/p>\n
“Since the vaccine entered L.A. County, we had experienced a shortage of supply that made it impossible to vaccinate our residents at the pace we were prepared to do,” Simon said Friday. “That is no longer the case.”<\/p>\n
He noted that some county sites are still seeing their appointments fill quickly, but others are not, particularly in the Antelope Valley.<\/p>\n
“We’re watching this very closely,” Simon said. “As we increase vaccination rates across the county population, we’re increasingly going to have a reservoir of unvaccinated people who increasingly will be less interested in being vaccinated. And I think that group includes a broad spectrum of people — some who may be hard no’s. … We don’t think that’s a large percentage, but there are those out there in that camp. And then there are others I would regard as softer no’s, that are no’s right now but they may be persuaded otherwise.”<\/p>\n
He said the slow-down in the pace of people making appointments is likely due to a variety of factors, including recent downward trends in COVID case numbers that may lead people to believe the shots aren’t necessary, and potentially more people getting shots from other non-county sources, such as pharmacies.<\/p>\n
“We’ve already vaccinated that portion of our population that desperately wanted to be vaccinated,” he said. “Early on there was a rush. While others have been willing to wait a little bit but nonetheless felt vaccinations were really important, and so were willing to work hard to get appointments early on. And now we’re sort of sliding into that remaining group of people that have some level maybe of either hesitation or reluctance or aren’t so sure and want some more information.”<\/p>\n
Through Monday, walk-up vaccinations will be available at Palmdale Oasis Recreation Center, located at 3850 East Avenue S.<\/p>\n