Opin­ion: US and EU re­views of blood clots and J&J’s Covid vac­cine show why a trans­par­ent process mat­ters

When the CDC’s top ad­vi­so­ry com­mit­tee met last week to re­view whether a hand­ful of very rare but po­ten­tial­ly fa­tal blood clots with low platelets might be linked to J&J’s Covid-19 vac­cine, the as­sump­tion was that the com­mit­tee would, at the very least, fol­low its own agen­da and vote on whether to wait for more da­ta, or make in­ter­im age- or risk-based rec­om­men­da­tions for the vac­cine.

In­stead, the com­mit­tee did nei­ther, punt­ing its vote un­til this Fri­day when it can hold a longer dis­cus­sion with the lat­est da­ta. None of the ACIP mem­bers raised ma­jor con­cerns with the de­ci­sion, or lack there­of, de­spite some calls to not pause the vac­cine in­def­i­nite­ly.

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