U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday will call for an immediate pause in use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine after six U.S. recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots, the New York Times reported, citing officials briefed on the decision.
All the six recipients were women between the ages of 18 and 48. One woman died and a second woman in Nebraska has been hospitalized in critical condition, the NYT reported.
The company’s shares were down 3% before the opening bell.
The Food and Drug Administration, Johnson & Johnson and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The move from the U.S. regulators comes less than a week after Europe’s drug regulator said it was reviewing rare blood clots in four people in the United States who received the shot.
(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)