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More on the J&J pause and Peoria-area variants

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Illinois

* Updated background is here if you need it. Mitchell Armentrout at the Sun-Times…

Federal health officials who recommended shelving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday did so just under three weeks after the one-and-done shot went into Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s left arm.

That means the chief executive of the state’s pandemic response is still within the three-week window experts have spotlighted since six vaccinated women suffered severe complications from blood clots within that time frame.

But like the overwhelming majority of the other 6.8 million Americans who have gotten the J&J jab, J.B. hasn’t had any problems, according to his office.

“The Governor does not have concerns after receiving the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, nor has he experienced any health issues since receiving his shot,” Pritzker’s press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh said in an email.

* From the Atlantic…

In the six cases reported so far, all in the United States, women ages 18 to 48 developed an unusual type of blood clot within about two weeks of receiving the company’s inoculation.

Experts haven’t yet conclusively determined whether J&J’s vaccine is directly causing these strange clots, or how frequently the condition might be occurring, because they’re relying largely on people reporting their health conditions to federal agencies. Roughly 7 million doses of the vaccine have been administered so far in the United States; among them were about 1 million women under the age of 50. “I think it’s reasonable to say it is a rare event, but I don’t think we should go into false precision in this kind of situation,” Saad Omer, a vaccine expert at Yale, told me. “Our numerators and denominators are still emerging.” […]

Blood-clotting disorders, should they ultimately be tied to this vaccine, won’t necessarily end Johnson & Johnson’s current efforts at COVID-19 immunization. Certain types of estrogen-containing oral contraceptives and hormone therapies carry similar concerns, but have yet to be pulled from the market. (Rasmussen told me that those potential side effects didn’t stop her from using oral birth control for the better part of 20 years.)

The clots reported after J&J immunization—called cerebral venous sinus thromboses—are in an unusual class. A very similar clotting problem has been reported after injections of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, which strongly resembles the J&J shot in formulation; several European countries have restricted the AstraZeneca shot to use in older adults only. One benefit of publicizing the potential problem with J&J right now is that federal health officials can alert doctors to the right treatments. They have advised against deploying heparin, one of the most common blood thinners prescribed for clots, in these patients, because it has the potential to exacerbate this specific condition. Luckily, an entire arsenal of alternative treatments exists. “It’s really important to know what to be looking for right now,” Céline Gounder, an infectious-disease physician at Bellevue Hospital in New York, where some patients have been receiving the J&J vaccine upon discharge, told me.

* Meanwhile, in the Peoria area, where the positivity rate is sky high…

Of 323 positive tests collected last month and pulled last week for sampling, 50 percent were the B.117 [British] variant.

Sixteen were the P.1, or the variant first discovered in Brazil, which is considered by scientists as potentially the most troublesome of the current crop.

“In regards to the P.1 or Brazilian variant, that is vaccine-resistant. And it’s been shown to be more pathogenic,” Rossi said. “So severity of the condition, and once you’re infected, it’s been shown to be worse, as well.”

The first reports of COVID variants in the Peoria area were disclosed by the Illinois Department of Public Health last month. The Peoria City/County Health Department has declined to provide many specifics, such as whether the variants are believed to be attributed to travel or community spread, which would suggest the P.1 variant is no longer isolated. […]

Last week, Peoria City/County Health Department Administrator Monica Hendrickson said 21 variant cases were currently under investigation in the Tri-County region. Those are primarily the B.1.1.7 and P.1. strains.

Rossi said seven Tazewell, six Peoria, one McLean, and one Knox County P.1 cases were identified within the sample of positive tests. The concentration of P.1 cases in central Illinois was “surprising,” Rossi said.

Two cases of the variant originating in South Africa, and 14 Santa Clara (California) variant cases also were detected.

* Related…

* Dr. Anthony Fauci on what the Johnson & Johnson vaccine reactions could mean for women

* CDC to host emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss future of Johnson & Johnson vaccine

* Joint CDC and FDA Statement on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine

* Why Biden health officials decided to pause J&J’s coronavirus vaccine

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 5:34 am

Comments

Agenda for today’s CDC meeting- https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/agenda-archive/agenda-2021-04-14-508.pdf

Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 8:19 am
==Agenda for today’s CDC meeting==

Just to clarify, it appears that the Jansen vaccine that will be discussed in today’s CDC meeting is the same as the Johnson and Johnson, of which its use has been suspended due to the side effects.

https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/wellness-prevention/what-you-should-know-about-johnson-johnsonjanssen-vaccine-pause

Comment by EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 8:33 am
I’ve spent many hours a day finding appointments for other people. Peoria and Pekin consistently had available appointments even on days where the rest of the top half of the state had none. There were days where I could’ve booked someone same day.

I don’t know why appointments weren’t being booked in Peoria, but I can’t help but think these new high numbers are related.

Comment by jimbo Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 9:05 am
**“In regards to the P.1 or Brazilian variant, that is vaccine-resistant. And it’s been shown to be more pathogenic,” Rossi said. “So severity of the condition, and once you’re infected, it’s been shown to be worse, as well.”**

Not sure where Rossi is getting this… this differs from what the studies have shown.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-03-18-existing-vaccines-may-protect-against-brazilian-coronavirus-variant

Comment by SaulGoodman Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 9:44 am
@Jimbo - Made a similar observation yesterday. There was a time that those were the only areas where Walgreens was showing available doses.

We’ve put a lot of focus on educating at risk areas which was certainly well placed. At the same time we also need to recognize that there are parts of this state where there’s going to be vaccine hesitancy and we need to double our efforts there. We should have never allowed this crisis to become politicized the way it has.

Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 10:02 am
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which has been delivered to more than 6.8 million Americans, has been associated with six reported cases of severe and very uncommon blood clots in women ages 18 to 48. It would seem a more measured response than shutting off everyone would be to either restrict it from women in that age group, or to allow anyone who seeks to use it to give informed consent. This additional overreaction will ultimately prolong the pandemic and increase vaccine hesitancy.

Comment by phocion Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 10:44 am
Just wanted to point out that some people misunderstand vaccine resistance. It reflects lower, but still high levels of effectiveness for the vaccines against the variants. For example, the IHME estimates effectiveness for Pfizer and Moderna to be 72% against B.1.351 & P.1. While that is lower than the numbers from the original trials, it’s still much better than the 0% protection you have without vaccination. Also, that’s protection against having symptoms. The more important number is how effective it is against having a case severe enough to require medical attention, and by that measure the variants may not matter. In the J&J trials, it remained 85% effective against cases severe enough to require medical attention across all the locations where it was tested, so that number didn’t appear to be lower for different variants. The bottom line is, get vaccinated, and do it as quickly as possible. The vaccines still work quite well, even against the variants, but only if people take them.

Comment by AC Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 10:51 am
“Of 323 positive tests collected last month and pulled last week for sampling, 50 percent were the B.117 [British] variant. Sixteen were the P.1, or the variant first discovered in Brazil, which is considered by scientists as potentially the most troublesome of the current crop.”

This is exactly what the scientists warned would happen and it is not good.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 11:08 am
And yet the state is ignoring their own metrics they established for moving regions backward to Tier 1. And worse, they refuse to even address it publicly, other than to say they are looking at it. Poor leadership.

Comment by Smalls Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 11:21 am
=I don’t know why appointments weren’t being booked in Peoria=

If the map is rural or red then vaccinations are low.

One man caused this. One. Man.

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 12:31 pm
Does anyone work at caterpillar? I’d like to know the mentality there. It used to be that as caterpillar goes, Peoria area follows and I am just curious if cat is taking it seriously or not.

Comment by Lurker Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 2:34 pm
==And yet the state is ignoring their own metrics they established for moving regions backward to Tier 1. ==

I agree. It’s been long overdue for at least Regions 2 and 8 (and Tier 1 among others soon) to go back to either Tier 1, Phase 3, or whatever they now call it for at least two weeks or so now.

Maybe it’s time to pull back the entire state, even regions with still low positivity rates (Region 3 included) to Tier 1 mitigations until the variant threat passes?

Comment by EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 2:57 pm
==”Maybe it’s time to pull back the entire state, even regions with still low positivity rates (Region 3 included) to Tier 1 mitigations until the variant threat passes?”==

Not the ENTIRE state, just the regions with high positivity for COVID-19.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 4:11 pm
@Lurker - Caterpillar has kept most of their non-factory people working from home at least part of the time if not all the time for a year.

But Tazewell and Woodford Counties have been very Trumpy in their response to COVID restrictions/requirements. Peoria County less so.

Comment by hisgirlfriday Wednesday, Apr 14, 21 @ 4:29 pm