The one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot given to area teachers has been put on a temporary pause after blood clots among patients were reported earlier this week.

Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said the J&J vaccine will be halted until at least April 20.

Over the past month, educators across the state have received a bulk of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“We had an opportunity to use those initial Johnson & Johnson vaccine allocations to absolutely remain committed to vaccinating our teachers,” Beam said. “Those clinics have concluded at this time, so our teacher population clinics are wrapped up. Teachers who wanted to get vaccinated have been vaccinated.”

“The CDC and the FDA put this pause in place to review six incidents of rare blood clots that occurred within two weeks of individuals receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.”

According to Beam, all six of the cases occurred within women between the ages of 18-48.

“Preliminary information indicates that none of these six cases occurred in Pennsylvania, however few are awaiting confirmation from the CDC on that point.”

On Tuesday, Lehighton Superintendent Jonathan J. Cleaver said, “I have not been made aware of any issues from our staff. We had over 130 individuals take advantage of the opportunity from the state for educators, in relation to the J&J vaccine.”

Northern Lehigh Superintendent Matthew Link said he felt there is not enough information to comment at this point.

Caution

To date, 6.8 million Americans have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“That means that one in a million people receiving this vaccine have been affected by this issue. However, safety is our paramount concern, and we are taking these steps out of an abundance of caution.”

Beam said the action taken Tuesday highlights the federal process, which monitors the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19, “which is working,” she added.

“We have said these vaccines would be the most scrutinized and watched vaccines ever in history,” Beam said.

“This step reflects this.”

Beam said the protocols in place should give Pennsylvania confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

“I want to emphasize that all Pennsylvanians should proceed to get vaccinated as soon as possible to fight this virus,” she said.

Beam said people who have appointments scheduled for either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines should keep their appointments.

“If you are not aware of which type of vaccine you are scheduled to receive, it’s important to emphasize that providers will not be administering Johnson & Jonson vaccine over the next week. If you received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and have health concerns, you should contact your health care provider.”

Beam followed up by saying those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine who develop a severe headache, abdominal pain leg pain, or shortness of breath should contact their health care provider immediately.

Close scrutiny

Acting Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson said there shouldn’t be a worry for people vaccinated beyond the two-week window when the clot cases were reported.

“There has been a high level of scrutiny of this vaccine. Even though there have only been six cases that have come to our attention, we have this pause so we can evaluate closely to see what other actions need to be taken,” Johnson said.

“I believe people should feel more confident that we are scrutinizing this process so closely - much more closely than we’ve ever done with any other process like this.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed Tuesday that there were 6,638 additional positive cases of COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 1,082,062.

Before this week, the state hasn’t had over 6,000 positive daily cases reported since Jan. 28.

There are 2,474 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Of that number, 534 patients are in the intensive care unit with COVID-19. Most of the patients hospitalized are ages 65 or older, and most of the deaths have occurred in patients 65 or older.

As of 11:59 p.m. Monday, there were 66 new deaths identified by the Pennsylvania death registry, reported for a total of 25,472 deaths attributed to COVID-19.