South Africa Pauses Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Use Over Blood Clot Risks

South Africa has so far lost 53,498 lives to COVID-19, along with 1,561,559 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.

South Africa has joined the US in suspending its rollout of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, following reports that six women who received the immunisation doses had developed unusual blood clots with low platelet count. "After this advisory came to my attention, I held urgent consultations with our scientists, who have advised that we cannot take the decision made by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lightly." "Based on their advice, we have determined to voluntarily suspend our rollout until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is sufficiently interrogated," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Tuesday evening. Mkhize emphasised that there had not been any reports of clots that have formed after vaccinations in South Africa, despite 289,787 health care workers already having received the vaccine. All the cases of blood colt-related complications have arisen from the US.