July 11 2021- 2:24 p.m.
Officials are investigating the death of a University of Cincinnati student one day after he received Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine.
John Foley, 21, a pre-med junior, passed away on Sunday. His body was discovered shortly afterwards by his college roommates, reported FOX 19.
The Ohio Department of Health and the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office are awaiting medical records and test results before determining the cause of death.
It comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday they were recommending a pause of the shot after six women developed rare, but serious, blood clots out of 7.2 million vaccinations.
The figure of six was later updated to include nine people, including two people during clinical trials and seven after the vaccine was approved for emergency use, including one person who died.
Moderna and Pfizer – the makers of the two other vaccines available in the US – are said to have declined while AstraZeneca was happy to come on board.
AstraZeneca, which the US has not authorized but is administered in many other countries including the UK and Australia, has also seen rare reports of clots in people who have received its vaccine.
In its case, British and European regulators have stressed that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks.
The CDC and FDA issued its shock advice to pause the J&J rollout Tuesday.
The same day, J&J also announced it was delaying the rollout of the vaccine in Europe, and pausing clinical trials while it investigates the possible link to blood clots.
Of the 7.1 million people who have received the one-shot vaccine in the US and been protected from COVID-19, only six cases of blood clots have been confirmed.
This equates to 0.00008 percent of those who received the shot.
Meanwhile, 0.27 percent of the US population suffer from Deep Vein Thrombosis – a more severe form of blood clot – every year.
All of the cases so far involved women aged between 18 and 48 years old.
It is not clear if the women had underlying conditions that may have caused them to be more likely to get blood clots.
One of the woman died and another is in critical condition in the hospital in Nebraska.
Foley received the shot on Saturday morning, when he began feeling ill. He never woke up and passed away in his sleep.
According to his parents, Mary Beth and Michael, Foley was a National Honor Society member who made the Dean’s List every semester.
‘Our beloved son John Francis Foley is gone, and our family mourns the loss of this wonderful and sweet joy of our lives,’ a statement from his parents, released by their attorney, reads in part.
‘While the facts remain unclear on how he died, we are rejoicing in how he lived: caring for others, lit with God’s grace, and generous to all.
‘We know the doctors involved are doing their best. We must be patient, and we ask everyone else to be patient, too. John was going to be a doctor, so this is what he would want.’
