Keep your appointment, La Salle County Health Department will have alternate vaccine at Wednesday clinic

Instead of Johnson and Johnson vaccine, La Salle County vaccine clinic will administer Moderna

If you had an appointment for the La Salle County Health Department’s Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccination clinic, the agency is saying you should keep it.

The clinic scheduled Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at Illinois Valley Community College will continue as scheduled, however, Moderna vaccine will now be utilized.

There will be an alternative vaccine available for anyone who has an appointment scheduled.

The La Salle County Health Department is aware of the CDC’s recent recommendation concerning the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Health officials have been in contact with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois National Guard to evaluate the situation and determine next steps.

In regard to the Moderna vaccine, all second dose appointments will be scheduled upon attending your first dose appointment.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Tuesday morning it would pause its use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration “out of an abundance of caution.”

More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects.

“IDPH has notified all Illinois COVID-19 providers throughout the state to discontinue use of the J&J vaccine at this time,” a news release from IDPH stated. “In order to keep appointments, IDPH is strongly advising providers to use Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.”

Moderna and Pfizer make up the vast majority of doses on hand in Illinois. This week, according to IDPH, the state’s allocation of J&J was 17,000 doses. For the week of April 18, the expected allocation for the State is 483,720 total doses. Of that total allocation, 5,800 doses were expected to be J&J.

For additional information, contact the La Salle County Health Department at 815-433-3366 or visit the Health Department’s website at www.lasallecounty.org.

— Shaw Media Local News Network contributed to this report.