Texas health officials confirm state's 1st hospitalization linked to J&J vaccine
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Texas is reporting its first hospitalization linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, state health experts announced Thursday.
An adult female has been hospitalized after receiving the J&J vaccine. She has symptoms similar to the six blood clotting cases linked to the J&J vaccine across the U.S.
The state wouldn't provide information on the woman's age or where she's located. They re-emphasize that they don't know for sure that it was caused by the vaccine.
This is just one case out of 616,000 J&J vaccines that have been administered in Texas, according to the state.
The CDC and FDA are recommending that people who have received the J&J vaccine within the last three weeks who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath should contact their health care provider.
RELATED: What the suspension of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine means for you
Over the weekend, Dr. Fauci, who is President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, said he believed that federal regulators could bring the shots back soon with restrictions based on age or gender or with a blanket warning, so that it is administered in a way "a little bit different than we were before the pause."
The J&J vaccine has been in limbo after the CDC and the FDA said last week they needed more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot - and if so, how big the risk is.
The reports are rare - six confirmed cases out of more than 7 million U.S. inoculations with J&J vaccine. The clots were found in six women between the ages of 18 and 48. One person died.
The acting FDA commissioner had said she expected the pause to last only a matter of days.
Fauci said he doubted very seriously that the U.S. would permanently halt use of the J&J vaccine.
"I don't think that's going to happen," he said. "The pause was to take a look, make sure we know all the information we can have within that timeframe, and also warn some of the physicians out there who might see people, particularly women, who have this particular adverse event, that they treat them properly."
"I think it'll likely say, 'OK, we're going to use it. But be careful under these certain circumstances.'"
More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been given in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects. Authorities stressed they have found no sign of clot problems with the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. - from Moderna and Pfizer.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The video featured above is from a previous report.
