Josh Onyango shares ways to get vaccine appointment.
The familiar faces of a team of Yale New Haven Health (YNHH) doctors dropped in to the monthly online Hill North Community Management Team meeting Tuesday night to keep the community in the loop about the Covid-related updates, including new concerns about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
A YNHH team of four doctors joined the meeting via Zoom to discuss the federal Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration joint statement recommending a pause of of the “one and done” vaccine because of rare blood clots experienced by six women who recently got the shot.
Tuesday evening’s community management team meeting.
YNHH has been committed to keeping neighborhoods updated throughout the pandemic by offering information and time to answer residents’ questions at community management team meetings.
Yale and the New Haven Health Department paused its use of the J&J vaccine until further research is gathered. All patient appointments for the J&J single dose will be replaced with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at YNHH, the doctors reported
The doctors told neighbors that it has not been confirmed that the six reported cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot resulted from the J&J vaccine.
“They’re not calling it a side effect of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at this point, because it’s not clear at this point if this is actually related to the vaccine,” said Tracy Rabin.
Rabin described cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) reported in the six cases as a “blood clot in the blood vessels going to brain.”
So far, Rabin reported, 6.8 million J&J vaccines have been administered throughout the country. Rabin told the group that every year five out of one million people will have a CVST.
Residents who have gotten the J&J vaccine should look out for symptoms like abdominal pain, shortness of breath, leg pain, and a severe headache within three weeks after their vaccination, said Zina Huxley-Reicher.
Dr. Zina Huxley-Reicher presents at Tuesday nght’s meeting.
Josh Onyango said 216,000 individuals have received their first or both doses of the vaccine in the New Haven County. This is about 25 percent of residents.
Onyango reminded neighbors to continue to take Covid-safe precautions. “It’s not really until we get to the 70 – 75 percent threshold that we have herd immunity,” he said.
Amed Logrono updated residents on the recent hospitalizations for Covid infections based on demographics. He said while working nights in the hospital, he has noticed younger residents getting admitted to the hospital for severe Covid infections. Given that older residents are more likely to have been vaccinated so far, he called the age shift “an indication that the vaccine is effective.”