Health authorities investigating death of Oregon woman who developed blood clot after receiving J&J vaccine
This article was updated following an Oregon Health Authority news conference.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Oregon Health Authority are investigating the death of an Oregon woman in her 50s who developed a severe blood clot within two weeks of receiving the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine.
Administration of the J&J vaccine has been suspended nationwide since April 13 as health authorities investigate six other reports of women who developed severe blood clots within two weeks of receiving the shot.
The Oregon woman received the vaccine before the pause, health officials said. “Until the investigation is complete, it cannot be concluded whether her death is related to the vaccine,” the health authority said in a news release.
More than seven million Americans have received the J&J vaccine. Among them are over 91,000 Oregonians, including Gov. Kate Brown.
Health officials have not determined whether the vaccine caused the clots in any of the cases.
The health authority was notified of the woman’s death Tuesday and announced the investigation in a news release Thursday.
“We are very much encouraged by the fact that our safety reporting mechanisms are working,” said Dr. Shimi Sharief, a senior health advisor with the health authority, during a news conference Thursday. “This is still extremely rare.”
Sharief declined to say what county in Oregon the woman lived in, where she received her vaccine or her date of death, saying that information could identify her publicly.
–Rachel Alexander
