The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has altered its guidance on the use of Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE: JNJ) coronavirus vaccine, now recommending the resumption of its use. According to the CDC, the limited risks of the vaccine are still heavily outweighed by the benefits.
The CDC announced on Friday that it revised its guidance in a press release, though it has since updated its release with new information. According to the CDC's release, "A review of all available data at this time shows that the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine's known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks for those recommended to receive it."
The release noted that the blood clots in selected patients, which triggered the pause in the first place, were limited to women under 50 years of age. The clots, while still worrisome, were proportionally rare compared to patients who did not suffer from them.
If the clots were so rare, then why the pause? According to the CDC, it's just a sign that its review system is working, with the recent hiatus seeming to be a "routine" measure when abnormal events happen during rollout. The CDC added that the supervision COVID-19 vaccines are receiving from the government is the most extensive in U.S. history.
Similar events have happened abroad, with AstraZeneca's (NASDAQ: AZN) vaccine receiving similar pauses worldwide after reports of similar blood clots, despite medical experts warning against widespread delays, making arguments similar to the CDC this last Friday that cases were rare and benefits outweigh risks. In the case of the J&J vaccine, the European Medical Agency, the central medical regulator of the European Union, may have noticed this and allowed distribution of the vaccine to continue, albeit with warning labels.
Despite the good news, J&J's share price still looks to be on a slight downward trend. J&J stocks were down 0.8% between Friday and an hour before close on Monday.