A New Jersey man has been hospitalized with COVID-19 and is in critical condition after receiving the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine last month, according to his wife.
Eugene said her husband is now fighting for his life in hospital, and is also undergoing treatment for pneumonia. Doctors aren’t sure whether his condition will improve with time, she said.
“I want to see from now whether he progresses or if he deteriorates—or they just don’t know which way, because they can’t tell,” she said.
Eugene, who also received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said her whole family have tested positive for COVID-19 since.
“Me, my son, my husband, my grandkids came to visit—we didn’t know we had COVID. They were tested positive as well. So everybody’s in quarantine until next Sunday,” she added.
Cosme’s daughter, Michelle Torres, said that he continued to practice social distancing after receiving the shot, but he became “very confused and began doing things that were not normal.”
The 52-year-old rang 911 after experiencing difficulty breathing last week, and was taken to John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Union City, New Jersey.
“I’m trying to hold it together, every day you don’t know what is happening,” said Torres. “The doctor said they did all they can do and it’s up to him to fight and up to God.”
“We survived the whole year without it [the vaccine], doing all the things we are supposed to so do—social distancing, washing hands, and masking up,” Torres added. “It’s crazy and we need answers.”
It isn’t clear whether Cosme has underlying health conditions.
Johnson & Johnson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Epoch Times.
To date, four COVID-19 vaccination sites in the United States have temporarily paused giving shots after reporting a batch of adverse reactions.
Most recently, on April 9, Georgia’s department of health said that injections were halted at the the Cumming Fairgrounds in Forsyth County after eight people experienced adverse reactions post-vaccination, out of 425 people who received vaccines that day.
“We are confident in saying that there is no reason for concern,” Colorado’s top medical officer later said after a review of each patient’s symptoms and an analysis of other vaccinations from the same lot.
A site in Iowa also experienced post-vaccination adverse reactions, Georgia officials said April 9.
A spokesperson for Iowa’s Department of Health told The Epoch Times via email that people receiving vaccines at a mass vaccination site in the state were “experiencing dizziness, light headedness, feeling faint (vasovagal), rapid breathing, and sweating (anxiety-related) symptoms.”
“These types of responses are common and expected following vaccinations in general,” she added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked with state and local health officials to review the vaccine batches used in all four states, which were all from Johnson & Johnson. The agency conducted assessments, including reviewing reports submitted to the passive reporting system called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.
Johnson & Johnson says anyone who experiences the following symptoms after getting a vaccine should immediately seek medical care: shortness of breath, chest pain, swelling in the leg, persistent abdominal pain, neurological symptoms, tiny blood spots under the skin beyond the site of injection, and excessive or easy bruising.
