Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday it would delay the rollout of its Covid-19 vaccine in Europe and was reviewing cases of extremely rare blood clots in people after they received the shot with European health authorities.
US federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing the use of the Covid-19 vaccine as six women under 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot, dealing a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic.
As of April 12th, more than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the US.
The J&J shot is one of four vaccines currently cleared by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use in the European Union.
The jab, developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is owned by J&J, is the only single-dose vaccine approved by the EMA.
On April 1st, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly signed the approval for the J&J vaccine to be rolled out in Ireland following the EMA's decision, the first deliveries of which were expected this month.
According to figures published by the Department of Health last week, 40,800 doses of the J&J vaccine were due to be delivered to Ireland in April, followed by 132,000 in May and 432,000 in June.
