Making Sense Of The J&J Vaccine Pause, And Taking Your Vaccine Questions

Injections of the single-dose Johnson and Johnson coronavirus vaccine came to a crashing halt today in much of the country.

Massachusetts, along with several other states, paused administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. This is in compliance with federal recommendations by the CDC and FDA, after six recipients of the vaccine developed a rare disorder involving blood clots within two weeks of getting the vaccine.  Just under 7 million people have received the J&J vaccine in the U.S.

The six recipients were all women in the U.S., between the ages of 18 and 48. One has died and a second is in critical condition. Experts have yet to determine whether these clots were a result of the vaccine, but the news had an immediate impact.

WBUR's Commonhealth reporter Angus Chen joins us to give us the latest. We then take listener questions on vaccines and other coronavirus-related issues with Dr. Helen Boucher, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center and a professor at the Tufts University School of Medicine, and Dr. Sabrina Assoumou, an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and infectious disease specialist at Boston Medical Center.