CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Texas Tribune reported 500,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered as of April.14. To date, there has been no reported cases of blood clots in Texas following the vaccine however, blood clots are not unheard of.
“I can kind of relate to being scared of a blood clot because my mom had it after she gave birth to my brother; she was in the hospital for months,” says Corpus Christi resident Natalie Galvan.
Dr. James Mobley, health authority for San Patricio county says this type of blood clot is called a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, or CVST.
“A vein that clots in the brain that is very rare and very severe, basically it will cause a stroke,” says Dr. Mobley.
He says this type of blood clot happens to roughly 1 in 100,000 to 1 in a million people. If within 2 weeks of receiving the shot, you begin to feel possible side effects you should call 911 immediately says Dr. Mobley.
“If someone has these symptoms, unusual headaches, difficulty with speech, difficulty moving their limbs anything like that, call 911 get checked out and remember time is brain,” he says.
Dr. Mobley says while the drug is under review by the CDC, he suspects the reason women are experiencing these blood clots is related to platelets.
“Generally, women are more likely to have blood clots but I've not seen any work on why in particular why these are, the relationship seems to be with platelets.”
Dr. Mobley also says, "if its a blood clot we would anticoagulate, that is in thin the blood, in this case it probably would make it worse so it’s not clear at this time what we how we would treat this."
The CDC conducted a meeting in which the advisory panel debated possible next steps in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it was decided they do not have enough information to make a recommendation. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will remain paused as the investigation continues.
To learn more about Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Overview and Safety click here.
