To the Fairfax County Community,

Today, the CDC, the FDA, and VDH recommended pausing all Johnson & Johnson vaccinations because of the occurrence of a potentially rare side effect. As a result, Fairfax County will not be administering J&J vaccines until further notice.

While this is concerning for nationwide vaccination efforts, as I know many states and localities were dependent on vaccine, this will not impact Fairfax County vaccine appointments. This is because we were already experiencing a shortage of J&J vaccine doses due in part to a nationwide shortage. No new shipments of this particular vaccine were scheduled for the next few weeks.

If you have received the J&J vaccine and have developed a severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks of vaccination, you should contact your healthcare provider.

In addition, today was the first of three days of public hearings on the FY2022 budget (see the below timeline). You still have time to review the budget and testify in front of the Board. Learn how to testify here.

The agenda for today's Board meeting is available for your review here.

For COVID-19 resources mentioned in past newsletters, visit my website. If you have a friend who would like to sign up for this newsletter, they can do so here.