Clark County woman 1 of 6 in US with blood clots after getting J&J dose

A case involving an 18-year-old Clark County woman is one of six under investigation nationwide in which Johnson &Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine is suspected of triggering an extremely rare but potentially fatal reaction.

Nevada officials said they learned of a case in the state during a meeting Wednesday of the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is reviewing the reported cases of serious blood clots that could be a side effect of the vaccine.

A document presented during the meeting indicates that the Nevada case is in an 18-year-old woman who has not yet recovered.

She is one of six women who received the J&J vaccine and was later diagnosed with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, where clots occur in veins that drain blood from the brain.

A source familiar with the report of the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it involved a Clark County woman.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended a pause in the use of the J&J vaccine while the reactions were investigated. Nevada then called for a temporary halt to the use of the Janssen vaccine, a reference to the J&J division that developed the vaccine.

Citing a need for more information, the CDC advisory committee tabled a vote on a recommendation regarding the vaccine at Wednesday’s meeting, continuing the suspension of its use.

Nevada officials have contacted federal regulators to learn why they were not told of the reported case, according to a news release from the state. Both state and county officials said Tuesday that there had been no reported cases of the blood clots in Nevada.

All six cases involved women between the ages of 18 and 48 who developed the condition within two weeks of vaccination. One person died, and all of the cases remain under investigation.

Researchers are investigating whether the technology used in the J&J vaccine plays a role in the formation of the clots.

The J&J vaccine employs the same technology as the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which has not been authorized for use in the U.S. and has been linked to similar blood clots. Both are so-called viral-vector vaccines containing a virus that causes the common cold that has been rendered harmless. The virus is modified to include genetic instructions that trigger an immune response.

The other two vaccines authorized for use in the U.S., Pfizer and Moderna, use a different technology, called messenger RNA. The vaccines have not been associated with the rare blood clots.

More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the majority with no or mild side effects.

In Nevada as of April 12, more than 65,000 doses of the Janssen vaccine have been administered and recorded in Nevada WebIZ, according to Shannon Litz, a representative of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.

Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.