Coronavirus watch: J&J to resume shipments of 'paused' vaccine to European Union

The European Union's drug regulator ruled today that a warning about unusual blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets should be added to the product information for Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine – but concluded that the vaccine's benefits outweigh the risk.

J&J said it will resume shipment of its vaccine in the European Union, Norway and Iceland. 

The European Medicines Agency found a "possible link" between the one-dose vaccine and eight reports of the blood clots, including one fatality. More than 7 million doses have been administered.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week asked states to temporarily pause using J&J’s vaccine “out of an abundance of caution." Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the FDA could once again clear J&J's vaccine for use in the U.S. as soon as Friday.

The decision comes as world leaders and public health experts struggle to curb vaccine hesitancy and convince the public that the pandemic is far from over. Globally, weekly infections are setting records. In the U.S., while cases and hospitalizations have fallen since January, the United States is still reporting more than 400,000 cases per week. 

It's Tuesday, and this is the Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news you need to know:

• Rocker, gun rights activist and staunch conservative Ted Nugent said he tested positive Monday after suffering flu-like symptoms for 10 days: “I thought I was dying,” he said. “I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days.”
• Rahul Gandhi, an Indian opposition leader and scion of the Nehru-Gandhi family, says he has tested positive after experiencing mild symptoms. India's surge helped propel the world to another record with more than 5.4 million cases reported in the past week.
• Consumers will be able to buy rapid coronavirus tests without a prescription this week at three national chain retailers, an expansion that comes as the nation's vaccination effort accelerates and states relax distancing and mask mandates. 
• New York has become the fourth state to report its 2,000,000th coronavirus case, following California, Florida and Texas. California has more than 3.7 million reported cases, a Paste BN analysis of Johns Hopkins data shows.

Today's numbers: The U.S. has more than 31.7 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 567,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: more than 142 million cases and 3 million deaths. More than 264.5 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 211.5 million have been administered, according to the CDC.

See the numbers in your area here, check out where cases are rising here, and see how many vaccines your state has received here.

– John Bacon, Paste BN rewrite chief, @realjohnbacon