EU Regulator Investigating Blood Clots After J&J Covid Vaccine

Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

The European Union’s drug regulator has started a review to assess blood clots in people who received Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Four serious cases of unusual clots accompanied by low blood platelets, one of which was fatal, have emerged after immunization with the J&J shot, the European Medicines Agency said Friday. The move turns the regulator’s scrutiny onto a second Covid shot, after AstraZeneca Plc’s vaccine was possibly linked to a rare blood-clotting disorder.

J&J is working with regulators to assess data on the rare clots, and “at present, no clear causal relationship has been established” with the vaccine, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The shares traded as much as 0.9% lower.

One of the cases following J&J vaccinations happened during a clinical trial. At the time, the company said it had found no evidence the vaccine was at fault. Three others occurred in the U.S., where the shot has been given to almost 5 million people.

Though J&J’s vaccine is approved in the EU, its rollout in the bloc isn’t expected to start until later this month. Still, the EU is relying on the one-shot vaccine to boost its immunization drive amid restrictions in some countries on use of the AstraZeneca shot, which needs two doses.

Sputnik Data

Separately, the EU regulator said it doesn’t yet have enough evidence to approve the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

Like the J&J and Astra shots, Sputnik uses an adenovirus — the cause of some common colds — to deliver the coronavirus antigen and generate an immune response.