SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota resumed using Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccinations Monday, state health officials announced
U.S. health officials on Friday had lifted an 11-day pause on using J&J’s single-dose shot, after scientific advisers decided its benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clot. The government had uncovered 15 vaccine recipients who developed a highly unusual kind of blood clot out of nearly 8 million people given the J&J shot. All were women, most under age 50. Three died, and seven remain hospitalized.
No serious reactions have been reported among over 16,000 South Dakotans who received the J&J vaccine, the Department of Health said.
“The pause and restart of this vaccine should be one more example of our commitment in ensuring vaccine safety and prove that transparent and rigorous established safety standards work,” Secretary of Health Kim Malsam-Rysdon said in a statement.
