Thurston County mass vaccination events unaffected by pause in J&J vaccine use

The pause in use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines announced Tuesday by federal and state health officials should not affect Thurston County’s mass vaccination events this week.

Thurston County’s Public Health and Social Services tweeted Sunday that it was only receiving and administering Moderna vaccines at their large-scale vaccination events through April 18.

Given recent supply constraints, the county had planned only one, targeted vaccine event with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, county spokesperson Magen Johnson said Tuesday morning. Rather than cancel or delay that small event, the county will simply switch to using Moderna or Pfizer doses, Johnson said.

“We got notice from the Department of Health last week that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was going to have a disruption in supply, so we would not be receiving or be able to request any Johnson & Johnson for the next several weeks,” Johnson said Tuesday.

PHSS is unaware of any local residents who experienced serious adverse effects after taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Johnson said. Vaccine providers send such information directly to the state Department of Health and the county is not informed, she said.

“At this time, we have no knowledge of the six patients who experienced these blood clots being Washington residents,” a state Department of Health news release released Tuesday morning said.

Johnson declined to share what percentage of the county’s vaccine supply has been made up of Johnson & Johnson doses, saying the PHSS does not release such percentages to news media.

However, the state Department of Health reported Tuesday that 149,000 doses of J & J vaccine have been administered in Washington so far, out of more than 4 million doses total. Nearly 7 million people in the United States have received Johnson & Johnson shots so far, and about 9 million more doses had been shipped out to the states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine was halted in much of the U.S. on Tuesday after federal health agencies called for a pause in the vaccine’s use following the emergence of a rare blood clotting disorder in six recipients.

All six were women between the ages of 18 and 48 and all developed the illness within one to three weeks of vaccination. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition, according to the New York Times.

Residents who want to get the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines can visit the PHSS website or the state’s vaccine locator website for links to upcoming appointments at local vaccine clinics.

Residents are no longer required to use the state’s Phase Finder website to prove their eligibility as that tool has been eliminated. And all people 16 and older become eligible for vaccination on Thursday, April 15.

People with difficulties scheduling appointments online can call the Department of Health vaccine hotline at 888-856-5816 or the Thurston County public health line at 360-867-2610.

Volunteers are still needed at the county’s mass vaccination sites. People can sign up to volunteer through the United Way of Thurston County website. Anyone with questions or concerns about volunteering can call 360-943-2773.

This story was originally published April 13, 2021 at 10:29 AM.