LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas on Monday resumed giving the one-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine after federal officials gave the green light to use it again.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the move two days after U.S. Health officials said they were lifting an 11-day pause on using the J&J vaccine. During the pause, scientific advisers decided the shot’s benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clots.
“The resumption of the J&J distribution allows us to say with confidence that the vaccine is as safe as the first two,” Hutchinson said in a statement. “This will reenergize our campaign to persuade everyone to be immunized.”
Nearly 35% of the state’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 24% have been fully immunized, the CDC said.
The Department of Health said Monday the state’s virus cases increased by 63 to 334,769 and COVID-19 deaths rose by two to 5,720. The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations increased by 18 to 170.
The state’s active cases, meaning ones that don’t include people who have died or recovered, decreased by 117 to 1,805.
