A woman is inoculated against COVID-19 with the Janssen vaccine on Nov. 10, 2021, in Medellin, Colombia. (Fredy Builes / Getty Images)
By Mike Landry May 6, 2022 at 3:45pm
“COVID vaccines are known to be safe,” purrs a typical Facebook fact-check posted when someone raises a safety concern about the shots.
We’re told that even though it seems all TV ads for other pharmaceuticals spend half their time warning us of potential side effects. “Yes! Our drug will help you with your diabetes. But your ears may fall off and your dog may die.”
COVID-19 shots, however, seem to contain magical potions that prevent all side effects. Except when they don’t — as evidenced by Thursday’s Food and Drug Administration restriction on Janssen’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The Janssen shot can cause blood clots, the FDA said, and the agency has limited use of the vaccine to those for whom there are no other alternatives. Janssen is affiliated with Johnson & Johnson.
The Janssen shot is now restricted to “individuals 18 years of age and older for whom other authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines are not accessible or clinically appropriate, and to individuals 18 years of age and older who elect to receive the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine because they would otherwise not receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” an FDA news release said.
Evaluating the shot, the FDA said there is a “risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), a syndrome of rare and potentially life-threatening blood clots in combination with low levels of blood platelets with onset of symptoms approximately one to two weeks following administration of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine.”
Are you paying attention, Facebook fact-checkers?
For those unable to take any other COVID-19 shot, the FDA said the benefits of the Janssen vaccine outweigh its risks.
The FDA is admitting that COVID-19 vaccines other than Janssen’s may not be “clinically appropriate.” You mean the one-size-fits-all concept of COVID-19 vaccination may not be entirely true?
Does this justify fears people have had about COVID-19 vaccines?
Could there be individuals with conditions that mean none of the experimental COVID-19 shots would be clinically appropriate?
Although there have been ongoing problems surrounding the Janssen shot, news of its restriction is huge — it represents an admission that maybe the blanket mandates for every person to get vaccinated may not be the solution the continual propagandist messages attempt to portray.
To think world governments would like everyone to take one of the various experimental COVID-19 inoculations brings to mind the cartoon of two rats. One rat asks the other, “Have you got your COVID shot?” The reply: “No. I’m waiting for the human trials to end.”
The FDA restriction on Janssen’s shot comes after so many people — despite criticism and ridicule as being anti-science or worse — have acted on their own research, maybe their doctor’s counsel or even just by intuition to decline or to wait and see regarding COVID-19 vaccination.
After all, they’ve seen the horrible side effects of other drugs shown in TV ads, and there’s something grating about being told you must take experimental medication.
Ultimately, these are individual choices. Data indicate COVID-19 shots can reduce the seriousness of symptoms, and given your age and overall health that might be something to consider.
But they’re not one-size-fits-all solutions like we’re being ordered to believe.
And the FDA-verified blood clot problem of the Janssen COVID-19 shots demonstrates a crack in the establishment medical monolith.
Mike Landry, PhD, is a retired business professor. He has been a journalist, broadcaster and church pastor. He writes from Northwest Arkansas on current events and business history.
Mike Landry, PhD, is a retired business professor. He has been a journalist, broadcaster and church pastor. He writes from Northwest Arkansas on current events and business history.