Florida resumes Johnson & Johnson vaccination shots

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Shots using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine resumed Sunday at federally supported mass vaccination sites throughout Florida, state emergency officials said.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management tweeted that it was resuming the Johnson & Johnson shots at the vaccination sites in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Miami after reviewing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

The federal agencies on Friday called for the 11-day pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be lifted after federal regulators reviewed data on blood clots and assessed risks associated with the vaccine.

Out of nearly 8 million people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 15 women developed these blood clots. Johnson & Johnson vaccine providers will now provide information about the risk and information about symptoms to watch for after vaccination.

Each of the mass vaccination sites in Florida should be able to administer 3,000 of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shots each day, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

Florida health officials on Sunday reported 4,671 new coronavirus cases and another three dozen new resident deaths linked to the virus. That raised Florida’s total number of cases to more than 2.2 million and the number of resident fatalities to 34,848 deaths.