Available Vaccination Appointments

As of 1 p.m. today, COVID vaccinations appointments were available at the following Dubuque County vaccine providers:

• Grand River Medical Group
  
  
• Hartig Drug (JFK Tomorrow)
  
  
• Hy-Vee
  
  
• MercyOne (Peosta: Tomorrow)
  
  
• Union Family Pharmacy (Friday)
  
  
• UnityPoint (Thurs., & Fri.) (or call 563.589.2537)

Please keep any appointment you schedule or contact the provider to cancel if you must.  Remember that if you get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, it's critical that you receive the second dose.  

For assistance making an appointment, call the Dubuque County Sleeves Up! Call Center at 563.690.MAKE(6253).  For links to all Dubuque County vaccine providers, visit www.dubuquecounty.org/sleevesup

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Administration of Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Paused

Following this morning's announcement/recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) has advised all Iowa vaccine providers to pause administration of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine until more details are confirmed.

The CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the J&J vaccine. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare and the recommendation to pause was made out an abundance of caution.  As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen ) vaccine had been administered in the U.S., which is less than 5% of all doses administered.  Approximately 83,700 doses have been administered in Iowa.

• CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving the six reported U.S. cases of a type of blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) was seen in combination with low levels of blood platelets (thrombocytopenia).
• All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination.
• Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered. Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given.