South Africa suspends giving Johnson & Johnson vaccines following FDA decision to further investigate blood clots

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa has suspended giving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as a “precautionary measure” following the FDA decision in the United States to pause the use of the vaccine while very rare blood clot cases are examined. South Africa has given more than 289,000 jabs of the J&J vaccine to the country’s health workers without any reports of blood clots, Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize said Tuesday. He said South Africa is halting the use of the J&J doses “out of an abundance of caution.” He expects the questions over the J&J vaccine should “be cleared within a matter of days.” Earlier, Johnson & Johnson said it was delaying the rollout of its coronavirus vaccine across Europe amid the U.S. probe.