NIH Director: J&J COVID-19 Vaccine Blood Clot Risk ‘Truly Rare’

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, appears before a Senate hearing to discuss vaccines, in Washington, on Sept. 9, 2020. Michael Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images

Blood-clotting issues linked to the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine are extremely rare, the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Sunday as he pushed back against calls for the one-dose vaccine to be paused for women under the age of 50.

NIH director Francis Collins made the remarks in response to advice from physician and CNN medical analyst Leana Wen, who said in a Washington Post op-ed that “the default position should be against administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to women under 50.”