‘We Were Flying Blind’: A Dr.’s Account of a Woman’s J.&J. Vaccine-Related Blood Clot Case

The disorder is rare, but so severe that the vaccine is on hold while experts weigh the risks and alert doctors and patients about symptoms and treatment.

An 18-year-old woman was stricken with severe headaches, vomiting, seizures, confusion and weakness in one arm early this month, strokelike symptoms that doctors at a Nevada hospital were shocked to see in someone so young. Scans found several large blood clots blocking veins that drain blood from the brain, a condition that can disable or kill a patient. Doctors performed a procedure to suction huge clots from her brain, only to find that new ones had formed.