What comes next after J&J vaccine pause impacts local clinics
About 1,500 people who signed up to get a Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Mahoning County and Youngstown now need to re-schedule after the federal officials hit the pause button.
The Youngstown Health District said they have enough Moderna vaccines to continue first-dose clinics next week. In the meantime, local health officials said they're freezing the J&J vaccines.
"Are we returning it? Are we keeping it? We kind of have to just wait and play it by ear but until then we'll keep it stored here at the health department," Youngstown City Health Commissioner Erin Bishop said.
The Mahoning County Health Department only has J&J vaccines, so their registration system is currently shut down until officials hear back from the Ohio Department of Health on getting a new shipment for their upcoming clinics.
"They're well aware of the number of appointments that we had that we had to cancel," Mahoning County Public Information Officer Ryan Tekac said, "So I would be hopeful they would at least send us at least 600 doses of Moderna or potentially more."
Bishop and Tekac said they're hoping this won't cause people to also pause in getting a vaccine.
"I think we're going to have a hard time," Bishop said, "And this is the time now when we're trying to get more people vaccinated in order to reach that herd immunity."
Trumbull and Columbiana County Health Departments said they will continue with appointments because they have enough Moderna on hand to meet demand.
Tekac said if you signed up through the county, you can either re-schedule with another provider or wait for the county's new shipment next week.
Bishop said if you signed up through the city of Youngstown, go to their website and re-schedule because they have extra Moderna vaccines.