CDC Advisory Panel Postpones Votes on J&J Decision

Time.

After the cdc and fda recommended a pause on johnson and johnson vaccinations tuesday -- a federal advisory panel -- meeting virtually this afternoon -- to discuss whether states could resume -- thanks for joining us tonight-- i'm brian miller.

And i'm jessica hartman.... that cdc advisory panel -- coming to a decision -- after discussing cases of 6 women developing a rare type of blood clot after receiving the shot.

44news reporter valerie lyons is live tonight with the latest -- the advisory committee on immunization practices had two things to consider -- did they have enough information to once again recommend the use of the j j vaccine -- and what recommendatio n would be appropriate?

And many committee members said they did not feel there was enough data to vote on that today -- the nationwide pause on the johnson and johnson vaccine -- will continue -- dr. beth bell: "basically, you know to be very frank, i do not want to vote on this issue today."

The cdc's advisory committee on immunization practices -- saying wednesday -- more information on a rare side effect is needed before moving forward -- "while causality has not been fully established between these rare events and our vaccine, we recognize these events could represent an important potential risk with the johnson vaccine."

The cdc and fda jointly recommended the pause after 6 women -- all between the ages of 18 and 48 -- developed a rare type of blood clot -- within two weeks of receiving the shot -- these cases -- are similar to those tied to the astrazeneca vaccine -- which is still not approved for use in the u-s -- "in the european cases, both men and women presented with the blood clots, though they were more frequent in women."

Federal health officials stress -- these cases are extremely rare -- only 6 out of nearly 7 million doses administered -- "we do need to better understand the risk which we know is going to be very rare, very low but we really don't know exactly how low and how to correctly characterize it."

But say -- anyone who received the j and j vaccine within the past month should be aware of the signs of the rare blood clot -- including severe headache -- difficulty moving -- leg or abdominal pain -- and shortness of breath -- for the time being -- health leaders say there is plenty of pfizer and moderna supply to continue vaccinations -- the advisory committee plans to meet again and discuss next steps within 10 days -- i reached out to several local pharmacies carrying the j and j vaccine and they say -- despite the questions and concerns surrounding it right now -- there are still many people interested in getting the shot -- they're just waiting for health officials to give the green light once again -- reporting live --