Missouri is resuming use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after federal scientific advisers decided its benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clots.
The state made the announcement Friday night in a tweet in response to U.S. health officials lifting an 11-day pause on the single-dose vaccine.
The state said that providers with J&J vaccine in stock can immediately begin administering it, and shipments from the federal government will resume next week. Just more than 105,000 doses of J&J had been administered in Missouri before the pause.
The federal government uncovered 15 vaccine recipients who developed a highly unusual kind of blood clot out of nearly 8 million people given the J&J shot. All were women, most under age 50. Three died, and seven remain hospitalized.
But ultimately, federal health officials decided J&J's one-and-done vaccine is critical to fight the pandemic - and that the small clot risk could be handled with warnings to help younger women decide if they should use that shot or an alternative.