MONTPELIER — The Vermont Health Department is extending for another week a pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19, officials said Thursday.
State officials say the pause through April 23 is in line with the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scientists say they need more time to study the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six cases of a rare blood clot were reported in the U.S. among the more than 7.2 million people who had received that vaccine.
In Vermont, appointments for all two-dose vaccines, from Pfizer and Moderna, will continue as scheduled.
The health department is working to open up as many new appointments as possible for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. They expect everyone affected by the pause to have a new appointment by the end of April.
“We know it may be difficult to hear about more uncertainty right now, but this is science at work,” Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine said in a Thursday statement. “This extreme caution is being taken to make sure we have all the information needed as we move forward in our vaccination efforts safely.”
As of April 12, 7.2 million people in the United States had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. All six cases of the blood clots occurred in women between the ages of 18 and 48.
While the complications are rare, the Food and Drug Administration and CDC recommend that people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care provider.
The Vermont court system plans to use nearly $13.6 million in federal money to ease a significant backlog of cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Court Administrator Patricia Gabel said eliminating the backlog of cases, particularly jury trials, requires an investment in personnel and technology.
She presented the judiciary’s recovery plan to the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Select courthouses have been identified to start holding trials, but no trials have been scheduled yet. Gabel’s plan calls for using the money from the American Rescue Plan Act over 3½ years.
Aside from jury trials, the courts have managed to handle casework through the pandemic, but there is a sense that when things open up the workload in the courts will increase, the Caledonian Record reported.
“The proposal identifies different areas where we would like to hire limited-service people to help us get up to speed in addressing what we expect to be a surge of cases,” Gabel said.
The plan is to control staff numbers through natural attrition. Gabel says her office would give annual reports about how staff is being used and what adjustments are taking place.