Use of J&J vaccine in Luzerne County varied by provider

Apr. 14—Some local providers administered all doses of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Janssen / Johnson & Johnson prior to an order Tuesday to suspend its use, but at least one major provider didn't use any.

The state Department of Health allocated a combined 6,400 doses of the J&J vaccine to seven providers in Luzerne County last week — four to eight days before U.S. health officials recommended pausing use of the vaccine to give the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration time to investigate six cases of J&J recipients developing unusual blood clots.

More than two-thirds of those doses went to State Correctional Institution at Dallas in Jackson Twp. and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, which were allocated 2,200 doses each.

Annmarie Poslock, vice president of Marketing and Communications for Commonwealth Health, said the hospital had not administered any doses of the J&J vaccine as of Tuesday.

Kyle Fagan, public information officer for SCI-Dallas, said prison medical staff began to administer the vaccines upon receipt, but the total number of doses administered at the site was not immediately available.

Fagan said prison administration advised staff and inmates who experience a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath — all symptoms of blood clots — within three weeks after receiving the shot to contact a health care professional, as was recommended by CDC, FDA and state Department of Health officials.

Of the 43,200 doses of J&J distributed to 19 prisons across the state Department of Corrections last week, approximately 17,427 inmates and 1,891 staff members had received doses, and 89 of those individuals experienced adverse reactions. Approximately 2,869 inmates and 617 staff members had received the Moderna vaccine, with 18 cases of adverse reactions, Fagan said.

Some adverse reactions to vaccines, such as fever, headache, tiredness, sore arm or chills for a few days, are not uncommon.

"Unfortunately, we also had one individual, at SCI-Phoenix, with a significant number of comorbidities pass away 48 hours after taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Presently, there is no clear causal relationship between that death and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine," Fagan said.

Fagan said the department's data does not suggest that the DOC is experiencing an unexpected rate of adverse reactions or adverse reactions more severe than anticipated.

Bruce Lefkowitz, owner of Harrold's Pharmacy in Wilkes-Barre, said he and his staff had administered all 200 doses of the J&J vaccine he was allocated by last Thursday.

Lefkowitz advised patients who called with concerns about the vaccine that the lot numbers of the vaccines he administered were different than the lot numbers of the vaccines administered to the women who developed blood clots.

"And that was six people in over 6 million doses. That's less than 1 in a million," Lefkowitz said.

Lefkowitz said he received no doses of the J&J vaccine Tuesday, but he did receive over 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine, "so we're fully stocked."

Providers in the state were notified to pause use of the J&J vaccine until at least April 20 to give the CDC and FDA time to investigate, Alison Beam, acting state health secretary, said at a press conference.

Beam said providers in the state had administered 262,739 doses of the J&J vaccine prior to Tuesday's announcement.

Anyone who has an appointment to receive a vaccine manufactured by either Moderna or Pfizer should keep their appointments, and anyone who has not scheduled a vaccination should do so, she said.

Asked about the J&J concerns increasing hesitancy about being vaccinated, Beam said the federal action taken Tuesday is "indicative of our dedication to making sure this entire process is monitored so tightly and with such integrity that folks really can trust in the vaccine that they are getting, and we hope that continues with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines while we have the J&J vaccine on pause."

Beam said the pause is not expected to have a substantial effect on the the state's vaccine rollout because availability of the J&J vaccine has fluctuated, while much of providers' scheduling relied on predictability of receiving the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, allocations of which have remained steady or incrementally increased week over week.

After the federal government approved the single-dose J&J vaccine for use, Gov. Tom Wolf and the state COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force partnered with the state's 28 intermediate units in early March to provide voluntary clinics for Pre-K to grade 12 educators and school staff to be vaccinated.

Beam said on Tuesday that all Pre-K-through-12 educators who wanted a J&J vaccination received one.

State health officials began allocating J&J vaccine to some of its 23 prisons last week in a push to get all prison staff and inmates vaccinated quickly.

Contact the writer: smocarsky@citizensvoice.com; 570-821-2110; @MocarskyCV