By Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, a single-shot alternative to other pharmaceutical companies’ two-dose series, is “no longer available” in the United States, health officials said.
The last of the government’s J&J vaccine stock expired May 7, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Dispose of any remaining Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine in accordance with local, state, and federal regulations,” the CDC says on its website.
About 19 million Americans received the J&J vaccine, according to CDC statistics. That’s far less than the nearly 367 million Americans who received Pfizer’s original vaccine and the 232 million who got Moderna’s, both of which required two shots for their initial series.
More than 31 million doses of the J&J shot were delivered in the U.S., the CDC says.
In April 2021, the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing the use of the J&J vaccine after it was linked to a rare blood clot disorder. Health officials approved resumption of the J&J shot less than two weeks later.
Last May, the FDA limited the use of the J&J shot to adults for whom the other vaccines were “not accessible or clinically appropriate” and to those who would not get vaccinated otherwise. The agency cited an updated analysis of the risk of a condition called thrombosis by thrombocytopenia syndrome.
“We recognize that the (J&J) COVID-19 Vaccine still has a role in the current pandemic response in the United States and across the global community,” Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement at the time.
Federal coronavirus emergency declarations ended last week after more than three years. The U.S. surpassed 100 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 last December.
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