UPDATE: Vaccine clinic at Crystal Lake church Tuesday canceled because of Johnson & Johnson ‘pause’

The McHenry County Department of Health canceled Tuesday’s clinic at the Willow Creek Community Church location in Crystal Lake, impacting about 400 appointments, after the Illinois Department of Public Health’s decision to “pause” use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, county health officials said.

The pause follows recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration to temporarily halt use of the vaccine after six women, ages 18 to 48, developed a rare and severe type of blood clot six to 13 days after being vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The pause is expected to last “a matter of days,” FDA Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock said at a news conference.

A CDC committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss the cases and the FDA also has launched an investigation into the cause of the clots and low platelet counts.

“While the adverse event appears to be rare, [McHenry County Department of Health] will follow the IDPH’s recommendation and not administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine until further notice,” the department said in a news release.

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

Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and developed severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks after their vaccination should contact their health care provider. Health care providers are asked to report adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System at vaers.hhs.gov/reportevent.html.

Future Johnson & Johnson clinics hosted by the McHenry County health department will be replaced with either Moderna or Pfizer until further guidance is received from the CDC and the IDPH, according to a news release Tuesday from the county health department.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and we appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation,” Public Health Administrator Melissa Adamson said in the release. “We know that there are many residents who wanted this vaccine in particular, and we will resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when and if it’s safe to do so.”

The clinic at Willow Creek Community Church, 100 S. Main St., opened just one week ago after about a month and a half of lobbying and preparation work by the city of Crystal Lake and its partners, the Northwest Herald has reported.

The site hosts vaccinations by appointment only and is open to McHenry County residents and workers who fall into Phases 1a, 1b and 1b+, the McHenry County health department has said.

The McHenry County health department initially used the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to target vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations, including homebound seniors, the homeless and employees of large manufacturing companies, department officials have said.

Since then, the McHenry County health department planned to expand its offering of Johnson & Johnson to the general population, with clinics for the one-dose vaccine scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as April 21 and 22.

In McHenry County, five clinics to date have used Johnson & Johnson, four at manufacturing facilities and one at a facility for the developmentally disabled.

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

The McHenry County health department received 1,200 doses of Johnson & Johnson from its March 29 shipment, and 1,500 more were provided to the county on April 6, Karras said. None of the doses have near-term expiration dates.

As of Tuesday, 622 Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been administered in McHenry County. No issues have been reported locally, Karras said.

In this same timeframe, 7,100 doses of Moderna, and 14,040 of Pfizer were received by the county, for both first and second doses, Karras said.