Canada to get Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, but monitoring US reports, Trudeau says | FULL

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday that Canada is “still on track” to receive its first COVID-19 vaccine shipment from Johnson & Johnson following U.S. reports of extremely rare blood clotting in some recipients.

On Tuesday, U.S. health regulators recommended pausing the use of the vaccine after six female recipients between the ages of 18 and 48 experienced the adverse event. One woman died and a second woman has been hospitalized in critical condition.

“We’re following closely the developments in the United States and we can assure everyone that Health Canada will — every step of the way — put the health of Canadians first and foremost in any decisions we make around distributing vaccines,” Trudeau said.

Canada has pre-ordered 10 million doses, with options to order up to 28 million more. However, deliveries to the country are not expected to begin until the end of April.

Health Canada has asked Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, "to provide information on any cases of these rare blood clotting events.”

Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, said Health Canada will analyze the data itself once it’s received.

MORE: https://globalnews.ca/news/7755135/johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-canada-review/

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