King County woman dies from ‘very rare complication’ brought on by Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Seattle-King County Public Health reported Tuesday that a King County woman has passed away from a “rare blood clot” after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.

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The woman was in her late 30s, and marks the fourth reported death out of the over 14 million people who have received the single-dose vaccine in the United States.

According to the county’s public health department, the woman received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Aug. 26, 2021, and died on Sept. 7. She was said to have died as a result of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), said to be “a rare but potentially serious adverse event in people who received the J&J vaccine.”

The state Department of Health further noted that TTS represents “a very rare complication.”

“Sadly, this is the first such death in Washington State,” state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair Shah said in a news release. “We send our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. Losing a loved one at any time is a tragic and difficult and pain that’s become all too familiar in the last year and a half of this pandemic.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 38 reported cases of TTS brought on by the J&J vaccine, “the majority” of which have seen patients fully recover.

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Use of the J&J vaccine in Washington was paused for 11 days in April over 15 reported cases of blood clots across the country. It’s believed that women between the ages of 18 to 49 are at a higher risk than woman over the age of 50.

“However, even for this younger age group, the risks from COVID-19 outweigh the risks from the J&J vaccine,” King County Public Health clarified.

A study from the CDC also found that for every one million J&J doses given to women between 18 and 49, 297 hospitalizations and six deaths brought on by COVID-19 could be prevented, “compared with seven expected TTS cases.”

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