The temporary pause in distribution of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine due to identification of a rare adverse event that happens in less than one in 1,000,000 people is a sign that the vaccine safety monitoring systems are working well.
How do we know COVID-19 Vaccines are safe?
The temporary pause in distribution of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine due to identification of a rare adverse event that happens in less than one in 1,000,000 people is a sign that the vaccine safety monitoring systems are working well. The reported adverse event is only associated with the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccines, not the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, and is very rare, occurring in less than one in 1,000,000 people.
The FDA and CDC closely monitor vaccine safety, and both agencies have both longstanding and new safety systems in place for heightened monitoring of all COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the CDC, "Safety and effectiveness were top priorities in developing COVID-19 vaccines. Researchers relied on years of previous research in other viruses and vaccines to help inform a vaccine development process for COVID-19." Typically each phase in a vaccine clinical trial takes several months to a year, and takes place only after the phase before has ended. Due to the urgent need presented by the severity of the pandemic, researchers completed the phases of the required clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time, or with some overlap, in order to work quickly but within proven vaccine safety protocol and without skipping any steps. Everyone involved in the production of COVID-19 vaccines, which included many governments around the world including the U.S. government and private funders and philanthropists, dedicated financial resources to developing a COVID-19 vaccine, which allowed pharmaceutical companies to focus on research right away.
Learn more about vaccine safety.