PA Woman Hospitalized With Rare J&J Vaccine Blood Clot

PENNSYLVANIA — A Pennsylvania woman is among the six in 7 million who suffered blood clots after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, New Jersey health officials confirmed Thursday.

The 26-year-old is overweight but was active, according to information presented by Johnson & Johnson to health policy leaders on Wednesday. She was hospitalized in New Jersey before being discharged.

A spokesperson for the New Jersey Department of Health confirmed that she had been hospitalized in the state but did not provide any additional details, citing medical privacy.

The woman’s initial symptom was a severe headache, which came a week after she received the shot, Johnson & Johnson said. She went to the emergency room and was given Benadryl and fever medication and sent home, but symptoms persisted.

A week later, she was back in the hospital with abdominal pain and a rapid heart rate. That's when the clots were detected. She remained there under care for more than a week before being discharged.

The pharmaceutical company said she is now being treated with anti-coagulant medication.

All six of the individuals who suffered the blood clots are women between 18 and 48, officials said.

The Federal Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control recommended a pause on the administration of the single dose vaccine Tuesday due to the occurrences. They’re currently investigating before recommending next steps.

The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been administered to 262,739 Pennsylvanians thus far. The bulk of those are the state's teachers and school employees, who were prioritized in the rollout last month.

Learn more about the impacts of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause in Pennsylvania here.

Learn more about getting a coronavirus vaccine in Pennsylvania at the Patch COVID-19 vaccine information hub.