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US health panel urges restarting J&J Covid-19 vaccinations

Fifteen cases of blood clots were uncovered among nearly eight million vaccinations.

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(Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies)

(Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies)

(Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies)

By Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press

A US health panel says it is time to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots.

Out of nearly eight million people vaccinated before the US suspended using J&J’s shot, health officials uncovered 15 cases of a highly unusual kind of blood clot, three of them fatal. All were women, most younger than 50.

But advisers to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the vaccine’s benefits outweigh that serious, but small risk – especially against a virus that is still infecting tens of thousands of Americans every day.

The government will rapidly weigh that recommendation in deciding next steps.

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