The European Union’s drug regulator EMA says it will assess Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen after “four serious cases of unusual blood clots” occurred in people who received the jab in the US.
The statement from EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee says one case occurred in a clinical trial and three others during the vaccine rollout in the US. One of the cases was fatal.
Covid-19 vaccine Janssen is currently only used in the USA but the rollout in the EU is expected within the next few weeks. The EMA authorised the jab for use in the EU in March. The agency says the cases are being investigated and currently it’s not clear whether the incidents of blood clots are connected to the vaccinations.
Earlier this week the EMA published a review of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 Vaxzevria vaccine, announcing that ‘unusual’ blood clots were ‘very rare side effects’ of the jab. Several EU countries suspended the use of the vaccine. The EMA said that 18 people had died of blood clots after receiving the Anglo-Swedish vaccine.
