Two vaccine sites close after adverse reactions to Johnson & Johnson shot
The race to vaccinate hit more roadblocks on Thursday, as several patients at a mass vaccination site in North Carolina suffered immediate reactions to the Johnson & Johnson shot. A day earlier, 11 people had adverse reactions in Denver, ranging from dizziness to nausea.
Both sites temporarily shut down.
"At this point we have no reason to believe there's anything wrong with the vaccine itself," said Dr. Shauna Gulley, a Centura Health chief clinical officer. "This is a temporary pause of one brand of vaccine so that we can investigate further."
The news comes as distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected to fall 85% next week due in part to a factory mix-up.
Meanwhile, the Midwest is on the verge of a relapse. In the last week, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased 11% on average among adults under 50 compared to the prior week. But in the Midwest, those hospitalizations jumped 42%.
The hardest hit state is Michigan, where one doctor tweeted a desperate plea on Thursday. "We need some help," Dr. Justin Dimick wrote.
Variants continue to complicate the country's recovery. Of all new coronavirus cases last week, children accounted for roughly one in five. Children are especially susceptible to the variant first found in the U.K., which was discovered at a recent outbreak at a Wisconsin childcare center.
"Prior to this time, young kids, particularly those in eighth grade or younger, rarely got infected or seriously ill with the virus and importantly did not transmit the virus in the community. Today that has been turned on its head," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
It's hitting college students, too. The University of Chicago said 50 students have tested positive. Some cases were linked to fraternity parties.
In small-town Villa Grove, Illinois, a bar's indoor opening event was linked to 46 cases in February, spanning eight households. That led to the hospitalization of an elderly resident and forced a school to temporarily close, impacting 650 students.
"Mask use was inconsistent and that six feet of distance was not maintained," said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky. "These findings underscore the vast impact of a single event."