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(Children’s Health Defense) – An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted 15 – 0 on Thursday to “preferentially recommend” mRNA COVID vaccines Pfizer and Moderna over the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot for adults 18 years and older.
The recommendation came after the agency’s advisory panel said the rate of rare blood-clotting disorders following the J&J vaccine was higher than expected. The CDC signed off on the panel’s updated guidance late Thursday.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization and Practices (ACIP) effectively discouraged vaccine providers and adults from using the J&J’s shot — marking the first time the panel expressed a preference for a specific type of COVID vaccine.
The panel stopped short of recommending the vaccine be pulled from the market. J&J’s vaccine will remain an option for people who are “unable or unwilling” to receive mRNA vaccines, The New York Times reported.
The ACIP said the interim recommendation applies to J&J’s primary series vaccine doses and its booster dose.
Panel members requested stronger language be used in the guidance, but CDC officials said the strength of the recommendations would be made clear in the clinical considerations.
The panel reviewed data from CDC officials on thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), acknowledging 54 cases of the condition among J&J recipients, including nine deaths.
The median age of cases was about 45 but the vaccine-injured ranged in age from 18 to 70.
Thirty-seven cases were in women and more than half (54%) of cases included cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). All cases occurred after the primary vaccine dose.
The median time from vaccination to symptom onset was nine days, and all patients were hospitalized — including 36 who were admitted to the ICU.
Rates are higher than previously estimated among both men and women, the CDC’s Dr. Isaac See said during the meeting.
“We’ve been struck on reviewing these cases by how rapidly a patient deteriorates … to death,” See said, noting symptoms always begin within two weeks of getting the vaccine and, on average, within nine days.
See said 39 of the 54 reported cases occurred before the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) paused the vaccine in April to investigate its link to blood clots.
CDC excludes blood clotting disorders from data
The CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force said it excluded “reports where [the] only thrombosis is ischemic stroke or myocardial infarction.”
The exclusions significantly reduced the number of coagulopathy cases included in the task force’s analysis. Coagulopathy refers to a medical condition characterized by an inability of blood to coagulate, or clot.
According to the CDC website, most strokes (87%) are ischemic strokes. An ischemic stroke occurs when blood flow through the artery that supplies oxygen-rich blood to the brain becomes blocked — a condition often caused by blood clots.
A myocardial infarction is a heart attack that occurs when the heart muscle doesn’t get enough blood due to a blockage — such as a blood clot — in the arteries that supply blood to the heart.
The CDC also excluded individuals who had an active case of COVID from the data. The agency did not analyze reports of blood-clotting disorders following mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, despite warnings by scientists that both vaccines may cause blood clots and heart attacks.
PETITION UPDATE (9/27/21) -
United has agreed to put off its threatened COVID vaccine mandate for another 2 weeks, as proceedings came to a screeching halt in federal court last Friday.
Mark Paoletta, a partner at Schaerr Jaffe representing the plaintiffs, was quoted by Breitbart as saying:
"Now everyone can follow the court’s decision to take the time and care needed to carefully consider the legitimate claims our clients have as we seek a solution that allows United to take necessary steps to combat COVID-19 while respecting the civil rights of valuable employees who have sincere religious objections or medical conditions that make them unable to take the vaccine."
While this appears to be a lessening of tensions and possibly a step in the right direction, we must wait till the case resumes on October 15 to see if United will scrap their draconian mandate.
In the meantime, we must continue to apply pressure on United.
So, please continue to SIGN and SHARE this pledge to boycott the airline giant for threatening to impose harsh measures - including forced unpaid leave - in order to coerce employees with religious or medical objections to the vaccine to take the jab.
Thank you for continuing to SIGN and SHARE!
____________________________________________________________
United Airlines is accused of not respecting the religious and medical COVID vaccine exemptions which the company offered to employees who cannot, in good conscience or health, take the vaccine.
2,000 employees of the industry giant are represented in two court cases which have been initiated to stop United from laying-off or indefinitely furloughing workers who have sought COVID vaccine exemptions.
Please SIGN this BOYCOTT of United and send the airline a stong message that you will not support the implementation of these draconian measures.
Many United Airlines employees have sincerely held religious objections to taking the COVID vaccines, while other employees have been told by their doctors not to take the vaccine due to health concerns.
The religious and medical rights of these employees must be respected, and, will hopefully be vindicated by the courts.
But, airlines are for-profit businesses, and apart from the legal incentives, there must also be financial incentives for them to respect their employees' religious and medical rights, and, indeed, the same rights of all Americans.
And, that's why we are calling for a boycott.
The CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, and HR Manager, Kate Gebo, need to understand that the American public will not support businesses who force their employees or customers to violate their religious beliefs or their doctors' recommendations.
Of course, this is totally unnecessary.
United could simply make reasonable accommodations for their employees who are claiming either a religious or medical exemption.
But, until United adopts that policy, we are asking you to consider boycotting the "unfriendly skies" and find another airline for your travel needs. By doing so, you will meaningfully stand shoulder-to-shoulder with these aggrieved United employees.
Thank you for SIGNING and SHARING this petition to boycott United Airlines over the company's failure to respect religious and medical COVID vaccine exemptions for its employees.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Pilots seek restraining order against United Airlines’ ‘unlawful, life-threatening, vaccine-mandate’' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pilots-seek-restraining-order-against-united-airlines-unlawful-life-threatening-vaccine-mandate/
'United Airlines will put employees with religious, medical COVID vaccine exemptions on unpaid leave' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/739949/
**Photo Credit: EQRoy / Shutterstock.com
According to the latest data from the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, there have been 11,680 reports of blood clotting disorders in the U.S. Of those, 5,198 reports were attributed to Pfizer, 4,159 reports to Moderna and 2,275 reports to J&J.
Commenting on Thursday’s meeting, Dr. Liz Mumper, pediatrician and author, told The Defender:
“After listening to the ACIP debate the risks of the Janssen [J&J] COVID-19 vaccine, I noticed the focus was on transient local reactions, bleeding/clotting and myocarditis, without critically discussing ischemic strokes, myocardial infarction and total mortality.
“The ACIP also did not address potential contraindications, such as previous clotting or bleeding abnormalities, for the Janssen vaccine as part of the vote, but said those concerns would be incorporated in their clinical guidelines.”
Mumper said the committee did acknowledge that, although the side effects of thrombosis and thrombocytopenia “seemed rare,” they could be fatal.
Dr. Brian Hooker, Ph.D., P.E., Children’s Health Defense chief scientific officer and professor of biology at Simpson University, said the meeting “… all looks like lip-service to the fact the spike protein activates platelets directly and causes all sorts of clotting disorders.”
Hooker suggested J&J is the “sacrificial lamb” because the vaccine commands the least market share in the U.S.
Similar to Mumper, Hooker also noticed the CDC was missing other clotting disorders in its analysis, including “myocardial infarction, strokes, pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis.”
ACIP stopped short of recommending J&J be pulled from market
Despite concerns over the rare blood-clotting disorder, ACIP members did not recommend removing J&J from the market citing concerns that such a decision would leave some adults without protection.
The J&J vaccine, marketed under the Janssen name, is often the only vaccine available for prison populations, the homeless and other high-risk groups, CDC officials said.
The J&J shot is also recommended for younger men who may not be able to have an mRNA vaccine due to the risk of myocarditis, the CDC’s Sara Oliver explained, and removing the vaccine would cause problems.
Some panel members said the vaccine should remain available to anyone appropriately informed of the risks.
“Legitimately, there are some people who might opt for the [J&J] vaccine even after being appropriately informed” about risks of TTS, “and I don’t think that it’s right for us to make that option unavailable to them,” said Beth Bell, clinical professor of global health at Washington University.
Oliver Brooks, chief medical officer of Watts Healthcare Corporation in Los Angeles, expressed concern J&J’s vaccine could have worldwide implications if the U.S. stops recommending the vaccine entirely.
One ACIP member however adamantly opposed the continued use of the J&J shot.
“I cannot recommend a vaccine that’s associated with a condition that may lead to death,” said Pablo Sánchez, principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at The Research Institute and a professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University College of Medicine.
“I’m not recommending it to any of my patients’ parents. I tell them to stay away from it,” Sánchez added.
The CDC’s recommendation follows similar recommendations from other countries, including Canada and the U.K., the panel said. Given the current state of the spread of COVID-19, the ACIP restated receiving any vaccine is better than being unvaccinated.
Individuals who are unable or unwilling to receive an mRNA vaccine will continue to have access to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Penny Heaton, global therapeutic head for vaccines at Janssen, told the panel the company has several studies underway to understand risk factors for TTS.
“Even in the U.S., given its durable protection, it may be the preferred choice for people who can’t or won’t return for multiple vaccinations,” Heaton argued.
“While TTS continues to be a rare event, unfortunately, cases of COVID-19 are not,” she said, noting the virus carries a much higher risk of blood clots than vaccination does.
FDA updated EUA fact sheet for J&J due to blood clotting disorder
The FDA on Dec. 14, updated its fact sheets for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the J&J vaccine, adding a contraindication to the shot for adults with a history of TTS following J&J or any other adenovirus-vectored vaccine.
The agency did not add a contraindication for people with pre-existing conditions, including coagulation disorders, or for those who may have experienced blood clots after receiving an mRNA vaccine.
The FDA said TTS was reported in men and women, in a wide range of ages, with the highest rate in women aged 30 to 49.
The agency noted approximately 15% of TTS cases were fatal.
Earlier this year, federal health authorities temporarily paused use of J&J’s vaccine while they investigated the vaccine’s possible link to potentially dangerous blood clots, but less than two weeks later voted to resume use of the vaccine with an extra warning about the risk of rare blood clotting disorders for women ages 30 to 49.
The ACIP said the link between blood clots and J&J’s COVID vaccine was “plausible,” but concluded the vaccine’s benefits still outweigh the risks and recommended the vaccine for persons 18 years of age and older in the U.S. under the FDA’s EUA.
© December 17, 2021. Children’s Health Defense, Inc. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Children’s Health Defense, Inc. Want to learn more from Children’s Health Defense? Sign up for free news and updates from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Children’s Health Defense. Your donation will help to support us in our efforts.