Sunset Health to postpone distribution of Johnson & Johnson vaccines
News 11's Crystal Jimenez takes a closer look at the impact of the vaccine pause in Yuma County
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - As the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was recommended to come to a temporarily halt, Sunset Health is switching its scheduled patients to a different vaccine.
Sunset Health's CEO David Rogers says there haven't been any reports of side effects from any of it's patients who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
For the past few months Sunset Health has administered about 1,000 Johnson & Johnson shots to farmworkers. They were given the priority to get this one dose shot because of how often they travel for work.
Rogers says, "They're not pulling it off the market. they're just basically putting it on hold."
He continues saying the clinic will follow the storage requirements for the vaccine which has a shelf life of 90 days.
Sunset Health says it had a couple hundred patients scheduled this week to receive a dose of the shot. Now they will receive the Moderna vaccine instead.
The Arizona Department of Health Services also announced it is putting a pause to the Johnson & Johnson shots for all health clinics in Arizona.
More than 200,000 Arizona residents were reported to get the J&J dose.
Regional Center for Border Health says it administered about 300 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to first responders. It's supply for this specific vaccine was limited and it didn't know when they were getting more.
