WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland started administering Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shots on Thursday as benefits from the vaccine outweigh potential risks, government and drug office representatives said.
U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing use of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for at least a few days after six women under age 50 developed rare blood clots after receiving the shot, dealing a fresh setback to efforts to tackle the pandemic.
“In the case of Johnson & Johnson today is the first day it has been used. We have not received signals that there are problems, or that patient are refusing (to take it),” Michal Dworczyk, a government official overseeing the country’s vaccine programme told a press conference.
The head of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products told the conference that benefits from the J&J vaccine outweigh potential risks.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Anna Koper)
