What's Next For The J&J Vaccine? U.S. Health Authorities Discuss Resuming Shots

For the last 10 days the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has been in limbo as U.S. health authorities declared a recommended "pause" on administering the shot.

Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee is meeting again to discuss whether use of the vaccine should resume — and whether any warnings should accompany the shot.

The hold on Johnson & Johnson's vaccine was prompted by six reported cases of a severe blood clotting disorder called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, among the 7.2 million shots of the one-dose vaccine administered in the United States. A 45-year-old woman died after receiving the vaccine.

At Friday's meeting, the CDC said it had found a few more cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, of which CVST cases are a subset. It has now identified a total of 13 reported cases among women 18-49, and two cases among women 50 and older. No cases were found among men.

That means the rate of reported cases is 7 per million shots administered among women 18-49. The rate is 0.9 per million among women 50+.