South African Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhizeon Tuesday announced the voluntary suspension of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the country while blood clot cases are examined, reported Africa News.
In a media briefing, Mkhize said that the decision was taken after the Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to temporarily stop the J&J vaccine program in the United States to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots.
The South African health minister said the decision was based on FDA’s recommendation that cannot be taken lightly.
“Based on their advice, we have determined to voluntarily suspend our rollout until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is sufficiently interrogated,” he said. “It’s important to be aware that with any vaccine it is essential to closely monitor its safety and efficacy. If a problem is reported following vaccination, a thorough investigation should take place.”
Notably, South Africa is currently using the J&J vaccine as part of its Sisonke trial rollout which is targeting healthcare workers. The health authorities have given more than 289,000 doses of the vaccine to the country’s health workers without any reports of blood clots.
Mkhize that the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority will accumulate all the information on the vaccine’s use and conduct a thorough assessment. He said he was hopeful that the temporary suspension would not impact the country’s long-term vaccine plans and that all the questions over the J&J vaccine would get cleared within a matter of days.
Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that it has decided to delay the rollout of its Covid-19 vaccine in Europe. The company said it is reviewing the cases of blood clotting with European health authorities.
South Africa has so far reported over 1,550,960 coronavirus cases with more than 53,000 deaths and 1,485,300 recoveries.
