Vaccination sites won’t open because they planned to give shots of Johnson & Johnson

Concerns about side effects blamed on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine led authorities today to cancel eight mobile inoculation sites in Central Florida that planned to use the single-shot serum.

Sites giving shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vacccines were not affected.

“At this time the state is continuing to pause all mobile vaccination events,” said Samantha Bequer, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Emergency Management. “After reviewing current supply, the state does not have enough Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to continue these events at the same capacity for this week.”

Bequer said state officials were reviewing options to stock mobile sites with Pfizer and Moderna doses, if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t recommend lifting the “pause” on use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“These mobile vaccination events are a critical tool in Florida’s vaccination efforts,” she said. “These events assist in reaching under-served communities statewide and increasing vaccine access to all Floridians.”

The list of cancellations in Orange County include pop-up sites at:

Bravo Supermarket, 13024 Narcoossee Road in the Lake Nona area of Orlando, which had been scheduled for Thursday.

Grace Medical Home, 1417 E. Concord St., Orlando, scheduled for Thursday.

Bravo Supermarket, 999 N. Semoran Boulevard, Orlando, scheduled for Friday.

Consulate of Mexico in Orlando, 2550 Technology Drive, scheduled for Saturday.

All had planned to administer 400 shots of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Several other Central Florida “mobile missions” were scrapped, too.

Osceola YMCA, 2117 Mabbette Road, Kissimmee, scheduled for Thursday.

Kenansville branch of the Osceola County Library System, 1154 S Canoe Creek Rd, Kenansville, scheduled for Friday.

Church of the Blessed Redeemer, 1225 DeGroodt Road, Palm Bay, set for Saturday.

State records show Orange County had planned for other pop-up sites Friday and Saturday but had not announced them.

Dr. Raul Pino, state health officer in Orange County, said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is preferred by many patients because it requires only one shot. Moderna and Pfizer require two. He said thousands of doses given in Orange have not resulted in bad reactions.

“It’s a personal choice, I agree, but it has been overwhelmingly safe and effective here,” Pino said.

Federal and state health officials recommended pausing use of the serum after a handful of reports linking it to a rare but serious clotting disorder. Six patients, all women, were hospitalized for the condition after receiving a shot — out of 7.5 million doses injected across the U.S. A Virginia woman, 45, died in March, another is in critical condition and two others remain in the hospital.

Two have been discharged from hospitals, the Associated Press reported.

The women were not identified by name but were each between ages 18 and 48.

The clotting condition surfaced between six and 13 days after their shot.

A federal committee wants more data before it decides on the vaccine’s future, the Washington Post reported.

A list of state-supported vaccination sites and their hours of operations is available at FloridaDisaster.org/Vaccine.

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