Europe scrambles as J&J vaccine delay deals another blow

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Desperate to jumpstart Europe's sluggish vaccination program, leaders from across the continent scrambled Wednesday in the wake of an unexpected delay in the rollout of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 shots amid reports of very rare blood clots.

While some European Union countries opted for caution, Poland said that it would go ahead and administer the first batch of 120,000 doses that had arrived. Others like Spain and Portugal were left without a choice: They are still waiting for their first deliveries.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, distributed in Europe by its subsidiary Janssen, is a key part of the continent's immunization campaign. Of the four vaccines currently approved in the EU, it is the only one that requires just a single dose to be fully effective. That makes it ideal for hard-to-reach, vulnerable groups, such as those who are homeless or migrant workers.

But the drug maker decided Tuesday to delay deliveries to Europe after the American regulator recommended a pause in the vaccine's use in the United States while the rare clot cases are examined. That is only the latest blow to the vaccine rollout in Europe, which had already experienced a similar blood clot scare with the AstraZeneca vaccine, also critical to its campaign.

It’s not clear if the exceedingly rare reports in the U.S. — so far, six cases out of about 7 million inoculations — really are linked to the vaccine. But European regulators already have declared that the unusual type of clots are possibly linked to the AstraZeneca shot, which is made in a similar way and is in wide use around the globe, though not yet in the U.S. Several countries have imposed restrictions on how AstraZeneca is used because of the clot concerns.

Still, experts agree COVID-19 poses a much larger risk of death and...