Author: COVID-19 NEWS

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Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine: CDC and FDA have recommended a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine in the United States out of an abundance of caution, effective Tuesday, April 13. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will hold its second emergency meeting to discuss J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine on April 23, 2021. People who have received the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine within the past three weeks who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath should seek medical care right away.

Scientists and doctors look constantly and carefully at all reported vaccine side effects.From their monitoring, they saw a small number of reports of people who got the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine developing a rare and severe type of blood clot. This type of blood clot is found in the blood vessels that drain blood from the brain and is combined with low platelets. Platelets help blood clot and stop bleeding.
All of these reports were in women between the ages of 18 and 48, and the problems were found up to 2 weeks after vaccination.
There had been more than 7.5 million doses of the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine administered as of the time of the pause in the United States.

A small percentage of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still develop COVID-19 illness
COVID-19 vaccines are effective. However, a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19 if they are exposed to the virus that causes it. These are called “vaccine breakthrough cases.” This means that while people who have been vaccinated are much less likely to get sick, it may still happen. Experts continue to study how common these cases are.
Large-scale clinical studies found that COVID-19 vaccination prevented most people from getting COVID-19. Research also provides growing evidence that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines offer similar protection in real world conditions. While these vaccines are effective, no vaccine prevents illness 100 percent of the time. For any vaccines, there are breakthrough cases. With effectiveness of 90 percent or higher, a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still get sick and some may be hospitalized or die from COVID-19. It’s also possible that some fully vaccinated people might have infections, but not have symptoms (asymptomatic infections).
Other reasons why fully-vaccinated people might get COVID-19
It’s possible a person could be infected just before or just after vaccination and still get sick. It typically takes about 2 weeks for the body to build protection after vaccination, so a person could get sick if the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection.
New variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 illness are spreading in the United States. Current data suggest that COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States offer protection against most variants. However, some variants might cause illness in some people after they are fully vaccinated.
If you get COVID-19 after vaccination, your symptoms might be less severe
Even though a small percentage of fully vaccinated people will get sick, vaccination will protect most people from getting sick. There also is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe in people who get vaccinated but still get sick. Despite this, some fully vaccinated people will still be hospitalized and die. However, the overall risk of hospitalization and death among fully vaccinated people will be much lower than among people with similar risk factors who are not vaccinated.
CDC is monitoring COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases for patterns
CDC is working with state and local health departments to investigate COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases. The goal is to identify any unusual patterns, such as trends in age or sex, the vaccines involved, underlying health conditions, or which of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses made these people sick. To date, no unusual patterns have been detected in the data CDC has received.
COVID-19 vaccines are an essential tool to protect people against COVID-19 illness, including against new variants
COVID-19 vaccines help protect people who are vaccinated from getting COVID-19 or getting severely ill from COVID-19, including reducing the risk of hospitalization and death. CDC recommends you get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as one is available to you. However, because people can still get sick and possibly spread COVID-19 to others after being fully vaccinated, CDC recommends people continue to take everyday actions to protect themselves and others, like wearing a mask, maintaining an appropriate distance from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing hands often.

Footnote: Electronic case reporting (eCR) is the automated, real-time exchange of case report information between electronic health records and public health agencies. In partnership with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), CDC is rapidly onboarding healthcare facilities to eCR during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of April 8, 2021, more than 7,200 facilities are sending COVID-19 electronic initial case reports to public health using eCR.Footnote: In production: Healthcare facility is actively sending electronic case reports to public health agencies.

Don’t get a COVID-19 vaccine at the same time as other vaccinesWait at least 14 days after your COVID-19 vaccine before getting any other vaccine, including a flu or shingles vaccine. Or if you have recently received any other vaccine first, wait at least 14 days before getting your COVID-19 vaccine.
However, if you do get a COVID-19 vaccine within 14 days of another vaccine, you do not need to be revaccinated with either vaccine. You should still complete both vaccine series on schedule.
When we have more data on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines given at the same time as other vaccines, CDC may update this recommendation.

Types of Post-COVID ConditionsLong COVID
Long COVID is a range of symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 or can appear weeks after infection. Long COVID can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if the illness was mild, or they had no symptoms. People with long COVID report experiencing different combinations of the following symptoms:
Tiredness or fatigue
Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”)
Headache
Loss of smell or taste
Dizziness on standing
Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)
Chest pain
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Cough
Joint or muscle pain
Depression or anxiety
Fever
Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities
Multiorgan Effects of COVID-19
Multiorgan effects can affect most, if not all, body systems including heart, lung, kidney, skin, and brain functions. Multiorgan effects can also include conditions that occur after COVID-19, like multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) and autoimmune conditions. MIS is a condition where different body parts can become swollen. Autoimmune conditions happen when your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing painful swelling in the affected parts of the body.
It is unknown how long multiorgan system effects might last and whether the effects could lead to chronic health conditions.
Effects of COVID-19 Treatment or Hospitalization
Post-COVID conditions also can include the longer-term effects of COVID-19 treatment or hospitalization. Some of these longer-term effects are similar to those related to hospitalization for other respiratory infections or other conditions.
Effects of COVID-19 treatment and hospitalization can also include post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which refers to health effects that remain after a critical illness. These effects can include severe weakness and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD involves long-term reactions to a very stressful event.

Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website’s privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.

For more information on CDC’s web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.