Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) is announcing that Rhode Island is pausing administration of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine as federal partners continue gathering more information. No Janssen appointments had been scheduled for release today. RIDOH is directing vaccinators that had made Janssen vaccination appointments to not administer those doses. Additional information will be shared shortly regarding people who had already made appointments for Janssen vaccine. No information reported to RIDOH has indicated that Janssen vaccine represents a health or safety concern. However, RIDOH is taking this step in alignment with federal partners.
Vaccine eligibility for ages 16 and older People ages 16 and older who live, work, or go to school in Rhode Island are now eligible for COVID-19 vaccine. If you are eligible, you can schedule an appointment at a State-run vaccination site by visiting www.vaccinateRI.org starting April 19. People ages 16 – 17 must sign up for Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. For help, call 844-930-1779 or 211. Visit C19vaccineri.org for more information.
COVID-19 Variants What We Know Viruses change all the time—this is normal and expected. These changes can happen when a virus moves from person to person. When a virus changes, the new version is called a variant. There are multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. Scientists and health and medical experts are studying these variants to understand how changes to the virus affect how it spreads and how it infects people. Variants are found all over the world. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is keeping track of these variants and posts updates to a web page about COVID-19 variants. Some variants spread more easily and quickly than other variants. This means they can cause more cases of COVID-19, which can lead to more hospitalizations and more deaths. Some variants may also impact our treatments, vaccines, and tests. We call these “variants of concern.” So far, studies suggest that antibodies generated through vaccination with currently authorized vaccines recognize these variants. This is being closely investigated and more studies are underway. As expected, COVID-19 variants of concern have arrived in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island Department of Health is monitoring these variants and posting data on the COVID-19 Data Tracker. We can all help prevent these variants from spreading by following basic guidance to protect your household. This helps Rhode Island’s families, businesses, and economy. Continue to wear your mask, watch your distance, follow quarantine and isolation requirements, get tested often, and get vaccinated when it’s available to you. What We Don’t Know Scientists are working to learn more about these variants, and more studies are needed to understand: How widely these variants have spread Whether these variants cause milder or more severe disease in people How these variants may affect current treatments, vaccines, and tests What Rhode Island is Doing Rhode Island’s State Health Laboratories coordinates a “sequencing program” in partnership with the CDC and other laboratories. This means we are analyzing random samples of virus circulating in the state to identify differences between these samples and samples we have of the original virus. We are sharing the results of these analyses on the Variant page of the COVID-19 Data Tracker.
