Local News

As J&J shots resume, doctors explain side effects, and one woman shares her scary story

UNC Health plans to resume scheduling appointments for the J&J vaccine on Saturday. Wake County will resume as soon as Monday.

Posted Updated

By
Joe Fisher
, WRAL reporter
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated Friday that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for COVID-19 is safe, and clinics across the Triangle, after pausing in distribution of those shot,s are planning to resume.

UNC Health plans to resume scheduling appointments for the J&J vaccine on Saturday. Wake County will resume as soon as Monday.

State Epidemiologist Dr. Zack Moore said the state Department of Health and Human Services is confident in continuing to give the J&J vaccine after reviewing individual cases of those who had adverse reactions.

“These do not represent a safety concern, and I think it’s important for people to keep taking the opportunity to get vaccinated where they can and protect themselves, because we still do have unfortunately quite a bit of COVID out there and want to make sure everyone is protected,” he said.

Lori Marks of Wake Forest was one of 14 people who reported feeling faint after getting the J&J shot at PNC Arena Thursday.

“It was quite frightening," she said. "I have never experienced that kind of dizziness."

Marks was one of four people taken to by ambulance to WakeMed North after emergency personnel on site determined that her blood pressure was dropping. She was there for about five hours.

By Friday morning, she was feeling better.

“I feel fine this morning, just maybe a little traumatized and a little physically wiped out from the whole experience," she said.

Dr. David Wohl, an infectious disease specialist at UNC Health, said fainting and lightheadedness are rare but not unusual side effects of all of the available COVID-19 vaccines.

He said seven people had adverse reactions to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Thursday at the Friday Center, prompting UNC Health to pause and ask some questions.

"The majority of people we are seeing here have reported fainting in the past, so I think that’s a really key clue," Wohl said.

“We’re seeing younger people, people who do have low blood pressure just normally, people who have low heart rates and they are susceptible to fainting. What’s happening is very, very rare. It happens to people with other vaccines and it goes away," he said.

The bottom line, Wohl said, is that vaccines are safe and necessary.

"The COVID-19 vaccines save people’s lives. We should definitely not overreact," he said.

As of Friday morning, the state reported 27.5% of the North Carolina adult population was fully vaccinated.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.