IDPH to immediately resume using Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine

The Illinois Department of Public Health will resume use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine following the announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they have lifted the previously recommended pause on the J&J vaccine, it announced in a news release Friday evening.

“Providers in Illinois who previously received doses of J&J vaccine will be able to immediately begin administering the vaccine,” according to the news release. “Allocations of the J&J vaccine by the federal government will resume next week.  Approximately 760,000 doses were allocated to Illinois before the pause, of which approximately 290,000 were administered.

“The pause was proof that the extensive safety monitoring system is working and was able to detect a very small number of adverse events.,” IDPH continued. “The FDA has concluded that the known and potential benefits of the J&J vaccine outweigh its known and potential risks.”