Johnson & Johnson to resume COVID vaccine rollout in Europe
20 April 2021
Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday it would resume the rollout of its coronavirus vaccine in Europe after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said unusual blood clots should be listed as a "very rare" side effect of the company's vaccine, but that the benefits of the shot still outweigh the risks.
Why it matters: Johnson & Johnson was set to send 50 million doses of its one-shot coronavirus vaccine to the European Union before it delayed it's European rollout earlier in April "out of an abundance of caution" over rare blood clotting events.
What they're saying: “The safety and well-being of the people who use our products is our number one priority," Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer at Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement.
- "We strongly believe in the positive benefits of our single-shot, easily transportable COVID-19 vaccine to help protect the health of people everywhere and reach communities in need globally."
The big picture: The company is still awaiting an expected ruling by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week on whether to lift its pause on the J&J vaccine rollout in the U.S.
- Most Americans support the pause in distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, and so far there's no evidence that it's leading to broader vaccine hesitancy, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.