Gov. Jared Polis: Likely To Be 'Days Not Weeks' Before Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Is Available Again In Colorado

DENVER (CBS4) -- Gov. Jared Polis it was likely to be "days not weeks" before the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will be available again in Colorado. Colorado temporarily suspended the use of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, after reports of 6 people in the U.S. who got rare and severe blood clots after receiving the vaccine. In the meantime, Gov. Polis said the state is working to get the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine to providers who were distributing Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine.

Polis encouraged people with appointments to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to check with their provider to see if they need to reschedule.

"...for the people that want to keep their appointment, for the people that specifically want Johnson & Johnson, you will likely have to reschedule, so, we don't expect that to be too long," Polis said during a news conference on Tuesday. "All we know at this point is it's likely to be days not weeks.

Polis said he did not expect an interruption of less than a week to disrupt the overall timeline for achieving herd immunity in Colorado.

"Let's just watch this to see how long this this pause takes, until it is cleared for usage, and and that will determine whether the overall timeline is impacted, but the brief pause would not impact the overall timeline for successful achievement of herd immunity."

Polis emphasized that people should still get vaccinated as soon as possible. There are currently nearly 13,000 vaccine providers in the state. It is estimated that 1 in 196 Coloradans are currently infected with the coronavirus.

"We know that one thing is sure, COVID-19 is several orders of magnitude more dangerous than the limited reporting of any of these incidences of side effects from vaccines," Polis stated.