Iowa approves resumption of Johnson and Johnson vaccines

The Iowa Department of Public Health on Friday evening gave the green light to providers statewide to resume administering Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.

The decision, effective with the announcement, followed the lifting of a “pause” by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in using the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The national halt was urged after six cases of a rare type of blood clot were reported in individuals who had received the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Warnings will be added to the vaccine’s label about the risk of clots, the pharmaceutical manufacturer said Friday.

It was anticipated Johnson and Johnson vaccines could be back in circulation in parts of the country as early this weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Vaccinations

An additional 22,495 Iowans were fully vaccinated as of 1:30 p.m. Saturday for the previous 24-hour period. That takes the statewide total to 936,679 residents.

That equates to 29.69 percent of all Iowans now having received a full series of coronavirus vaccinations, according to Iowa Department of Public Health data and as analyzed by The Gazette.

As of early Saturday afternoon, a total of more than 2.2 million doses had been given of the various vaccine types administered in Iowa.

Linn County now has 31.3 percent of residents fully vaccinated, with 70,951 people having received complete doses. Johnson County reached 36.32 percent of its residents having been fully vaccinated Saturday, at 54,899.

New cases

The state public health department recorded 436 new cases as of Saturday afternoon, with a seven-day average of 488.

Linn County saw 34 additional cases, hitting a seven-day average of 20. Johnson County noted 15 new cases, also with a seven-day average of 29.

Children — children under the age of 18 — were listed with 83 new cases.

Confirmed deaths

Twenty additional deaths statewide now have been attributed to COVID-19, according to state data — one stretching back to Dec. 30.

That figure takes Iowa’s total since March 2020 to 5,927.

Nationwide, 570,237 people have died from the virus, according to the New York Times count.

Hospitalizations

Two hundred nine people were hospitalized across the state, eight fewer than on Friday, the state’s data said.

Three fewer patients were in intensive-care units, at 48, and 22 people were on ventilators, which is down two from the previous day.

Long-term care

Only one current outbreak at a long-term care center was registered in Iowa, the same as the day before, and 18 people listed as testing positive for coronavirus.

Two of the additional COVID-19 deaths recorded Saturday were connected to long-term care facilities.

As of Saturday’s count, 2,311 long-term-care individuals have died in the past 13 months.

The Gazette’s Stephen Colbert contributed to this report.