US health regulator calls for pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccine use after cases of rare blood clots

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now reviewing reports of six cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot among those who have received the jabs of Johnson & Johnson.

European health regulators are also investigating three additional cases of blood clots, Johnson & Johnson said adding that they are delaying the rollout of the vaccine there.

All six cases in the US occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination, according to a statement issued by the FDA and CDC.

"Peter Marks, a top vaccine official at the FDA, said the clots are extremely similar to blood clots paired with low platelets that European regulators and scientists have determined are possibly triggered by an immune reaction to a separate vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford," the Washington Post reported.

Earlier in March, several European countries like Denmark, Norway, Austria, Netherlands and Iceland had temporarily suspended the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine over concerns about patients suffering from post-jab blood clots.