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Covid-19: CDC Panel Recommends Moderna, Pfizer Vaccines Over Johnson & Johnson Jab

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance saying that people shouldn’t get the one-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot if the Pfizer or Moderna option is available.

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine

Photo Credit: US Air National Guard Senior Master Sgt. Andrew Moseley
Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine

Photo Credit: Flickr US Secretary of Defense
Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine.

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine.

Photo Credit: Johnson & Johnson

Citing potentially life-threatening blood clots liked to the J & J jab, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on Thursday, Dec. 16 following an update from the Food and Drug Administration.

Federal officials halted the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine earlier this year for 10 days in April after six women experienced the blood-clotting problem — the only known cases at the time among more than 7 million people who had received the vaccine in the US.

So far, at least 54 people in the US - mostly women - have been hospitalized with blood clots tied to the Johnson & Johnson jab, including nine who died - seven women and two men.

The median age of the 54 people to contract blood clots was 44 years old.

The panel voted unanimously in favor of deeming the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna as the "preferred" options for adults over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, concluding that those vaccines provide greater protection and fewer risks than the alternative.

However, the new recommendation will not be prohibiting the use of Johnson & Johnson, just advising that the other options are a better choice if they are available. It now has to be signed off on by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

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