Milwaukee County is resuming use of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that states can resume use of the vaccine, with a warning about rare complications involving blood clots.
The CDC had originally paused its use because of six cases of blood clots in women out of 6.8 million doses given.
NPR reports the CDC said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was found to be safe and effective in most people and that adding this vaccine back to the mix in the U.S. would prevent around 1,400 deaths and 2,000 ICU admissions over the next six months.
Dr. Ben Weston, medical director of the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management, says every doctor in local emergency departments now knows what to look for and how to treat the extremely rare blood clots.
“But the fact remains that these blood clots are occurring in one to two people out of a million that are receiving the vaccine,” he says. “And when we think about the relative risk, you can open up your medicine cabinet, and probably everything in there has a greater risk of serious side effects than this vaccine.”
Officials say vaccine providers in Milwaukee will specifically make sure women under the age of 50 are aware of this rare side effect.
People in Milwaukee County will have the option of choosing the Pfizer vaccine if they do not want to take Johnson & Johnson.
