Let's talk about the J&J vaccine.

  Okay, let's talk about the J&J vaccine. (I went to a training on it this last weekend.)       First off, if you are a woman 16-49 years old, you MAY have a 11.8 in 1 million (1 in 100,000) chance of immune induced blood clots. If you can take a 2 dose vaccine, that will likely be a better bet for you.       It's thought that most of J&J vaccines will go to people of color and vulnerable communities because they have less time to fool around with 2 doses. For yourself, a family member or friend, please take a moment to learn about the vaccine. You may just save a life.       You should know that the J&J vaccine is strong and effective. If you have a chance to get it, don't worry that it's "not good enough." It really is an amazing vaccine.       And 2 in 50 women may have an immune related clotting issue. The clotting issue is due to your own immune reaction to the vaccine. (This is a similar clotting issue to the AstroZenica (AZ) vaccine. It's worth noting that some men have developed immune clots after getting the AZ vaccine. If you have symptoms, get help!)       So what should you look for?       If you or a family member experience:   **Persistent headache    **Severe Abdominal pain   **Difficulty breathing   **Swelling in limb(leg)   These may be signs of an immune related clot. You cannot treat this at home. You must go to the ER.     Now, as we used to say in the lab, here's the tricky part -- you must say to the ER:   "I had the J&J vaccine and I have this pain. Please test to see if I have low platelets. DO NOT TREAT ME WITH HEPARIN. There is an effective treatment protocol on the CDC website."        Because of the world we live in, people of color get worse treatment at ERs than white people. That's just a fact. If you are a white person, you can help by remembering that the J&J blood clots cannot be treated with Heparin.        Why no Heparin? These clots are caused by your own individual immune system reaction to the adenovirus used to make this vaccine. (At least that's what we think now.) Heparin breaks up clots by binding platelets.        People with these clots have low platelets so Heparin will only make it worse.        Thanks for reading -- and caring about each other.        BTW, I was selected for the Covid-19 Community Corps because of Denver Cereal. So there will be more as the science evolves.       -----