The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) had been tasked with deciding whether recipients of the vaccine who had compromised immune systems needed a booster shot. However, the experts passed the ball on this question to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Its response is still out.

Ahead of the panel’s recommendation, the CDC had updated J&J’s label again to warn of “an increased risk” for the nerve disease without having established a link, the panel noted. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also has mandated a warning about GBS.

In April, the CDC halted use of the single-dose vaccine for two weeks over reports of rare blood clots in some recipients, before reinstating its usability providing the packaging carries the warning.  According to US reports, altogether 100 cases of GBS among recipients of the J&J shot were reported to authorities up to the end of June.  One of the affected – who for the most part were older men – died.

The FDA will also have the final say on whether those receiving the J&J vaccine should get a booster shot with another vaccine. Despite some recommendations, US authorities are skeptical as to whether any Covid vaccine needs a booster, even in view of the increased risk from the Delta variant. The CDC is also unconvinced that two J&J doses might be better than one, as some health experts have recommended.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist