The city has cancelled a pop-up vaccination clinic Tuesday and will use only Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the time being, after the federal government announced concerns about the potential connection between the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine and an extremely rare, severe type of blood clot.
In an email press release sent out Tuesday morning, city spokesperson Gage Frank wrote that the City of New Haven will pause using the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine “due to some health-related concerns from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Earlier on Tuesday morning, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration called for a pause in the use of the “one-and-done” vaccine after reviewing reports of six U.S. cases of the blood clot among the nearly 7 million people in the country who have received that brand of the vaccine.
That means that a pop-up, walk-in Covid vaccine clinic run by the city and Griffin Health that was slated to take place on Tuesday at Casa de Oracion y Adoracion at 555 Columbus Ave. has been postponed until April 14.
The remainder of the city’s Covid vaccine clinics scheduled for this week — at the Shubert Theatre on Wednesday, at Fair Haven Library on Thursday, at the Shack on Valley Street on Friday and Saturday — were not affected by this Johnson & Johnson pause, according to the city’s email press release Tuesday.
Each clinic scheduled for the remainder of this week will instead use the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Frank quoted city Health Director Maritza Bond as stating that the Career High School clinic for local high school students is also only offering Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
“In an abundance of caution, we are pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine indefinitely,” Mayor Justin Elicker is quoted as saying in the press release. “Until we have further clearance from the CDC and authorization from the State regarding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the City will be using the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines at all COVID-19 clinics in New Haven.”
Also on Tuesday, Hamden Arts and Marketing Manager Alisha Martindale announced via email that a vaccine clinic slated for the Keefe Community Center (11 Pine St.) on Tuesday has been cancelled.
It’s back on for Wednesday, from 12 to 6 p.m, with the Moderna vaccine. You don’t need an appointment. And you don’t need to live in Hamden.
“More information will be forthcoming about plans for the rest of the week as they develop,” she wrote.