- Johnson and Johnson announced it would delay the rollout of its Covid-19 vaccine in Europe.
- This after six women - out of seven million Americans who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine - developed clots.
- The US health authority has asked for a pause in the roll-out of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine.
- The clots are extremely rare, said the FDA.
Johnson and Johnson announced it would delay the rollout of its Covid-19 vaccine in Europe hours after US health officials called for authorities to pause using the vaccine.
"We have been reviewing these cases with European health authorities," the company said in a statement Tuesday. "We have made the decision to proactively delay the rollout of our vaccine in Europe."
Officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that health agencies should immediately pause giving the shot, citing an "abundance of caution" over extremely rare reports of blood clotting among the millions of doses administered.
Six women who had received the vaccine had developed the clots - out of the seven million Americans who have received the Johnson & Johnson jab. All six recipients were women between the ages of 18 and 48, according to The New York Times. One of the women died.
Federal agencies immediately suspended using the shot, and many state and local health authorities followed suit Tuesday morning.
"We have been working closely with medical experts and health authorities, and we strongly support the open communication of this information to healthcare professionals and the public," Johnson & Johnson said.
Europe had just started receiving doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when the US announced it would be suspending its use to investigate cases of blood clots.
J&J is aiming to deliver 55 million doses of the vaccine to the 27 EU member states, plus Norway and Iceland, by the end of June, EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton has said.
For the following quarter, the target is 120 million doses.
On Tuesday, TimesLive reported that there have been no cases of blood clots among the almost 300,000 health-workers already vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson jab in South Africa.
South Africa has ordered more than 30 million of these vaccines, which are filled at an Aspen plant in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
