On-Campus Vaccination Clinic Cancelled due to Concern over Johnson & Johnson Vaccine
Amali Gordon-Buxbaum ‘21
The FDA, CDC and New York State called for a pause in the distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID vaccine the morning of Tuesday, April 13, after six incidents of blood clotting emerged out of 6.8 million vaccinations already administered.
The FDA and CDC released a joint statement this morning, explaining that the six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and that the symptoms occurred one to two weeks after vaccination.
Until the process of analysis and investigation is complete, the statement said, the CDC and FDA are “recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution” to help spread awareness about the potential adverse effects and the unique treatment required with this type of blood clot.
The on-campus J&J vaccine clinic, which had been scheduled for April 14, has been cancelled. The announcement came in an school-wide email from Dean of Studies and Student Life Danny Trujillo following the pause in vaccinations.
“It is still our goal to provide on-campus vaccinations this semester,” Trujillo wrote in the email. “We will continue to monitor this situation as more information becomes available.”
Sarah Lawrence College initially received 200 doses of the J&J vaccine for students on-campus, and over this past weekend, had received news that even more would be available for commuter students.
Because of the clinic cancellation, the Health and Wellness Center sent out an email containing information about available appointments for the Moderna vaccine at the Westchester Community College and the Westchester Medical Center. However, students are responsible for their own transportation to the appointment.
Harper Goldman ’21, who lives on campus, believes that SLC is making the right decision to follow CDC guidelines but is disappointed in how the school handled communication.
“It’s kind of ridiculous that they’re just now providing info to students about other appointments in the area,” she said. “They should have been providing those resources all semester.”
Ella Keymer ‘22 expressed similar thoughts on Twitter.
“It should not have taken the J&J vaccine being paused for this email to be sent out,” she wrote in a post. “Shuttles need to be an option and the existing infrastructure should be used.”
Goldman expressed that with the senior conference work deadline quickly approaching, it’s difficult to find the extra time required to schedule an appointment, which can often take weeks in New York.
“I can’t really devote mental energy to getting vaccinated after Wednesday, because I have three weeks to finish all my work,” she said. “So I’m currently scrambling to try and get an appointment somewhere for tomorrow. It’s sort of horrifying to think that I might have to move before I’m able to get vaccinated.”
Some students were still able to secure a last minute appointment at the Westchester Community College, like Romana Meyrat ‘21.
“I was pleasantly surprised to see that they sent information about off-campus vaccination sites so quickly,” she said. “This morning I was extremely stressed that I wouldn’t be able to get another appointment, but I was able to figure it out.”
Trujillo said in his email that the school will “continue to explore the possibility of providing off-site vaccinations (using either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines) for students.”