Onondaga County will resume administering Johnson & Johnson vaccine

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Onondaga County will resume administering the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine at its vaccine clinics, county officials announced Saturday.

The county temporarily stopped administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration issued guidance recommending a pause. Around 15 people developed rare blood clots shortly after receiving the vaccine. The CDC and FDA announced on Friday that it would lift the recommended pause. 

County Executive Ryan McMahon and Indu Gupta, the county’s health commissioner, announced the county’s plans to resume administering the vaccine. Gupta said that benefits of the vaccine outweigh any potential risks.

New York state opened up vaccine eligibility to all residents 16 years old and older — including Syracuse University students, faculty and staff residing in the state — in the beginning of April. SU administered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Barnes Center at The Arch before the CDC and FDA’s recommended pause. 

The Barnes Center began administering the Pfizer vaccine following the recommended pause. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single-dose vaccination that uses a replication of adenovirus, a common virus that often causes respiratory infections. The adenovirus used in the vaccine is modified to produce a portion of the COVID-19 virus so the body can develop an immune response. But the virus cannot multiply, so it does not cause infection.

New York state operates a vaccination site at the New York State Fairgrounds Exposition Center, and the county runs a vaccination site at the OnCenter. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that the state will immediately resume its use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.