Woman had three brain surgeries due to blood clots after J&J vaccine

Vegas woman, 18, was placed in a coma and had to undergo THREE brain surgeries for blood clots one week after getting J&J COVID vaccine

• Emma Burkey, 18, of Las Vegas, Nevada, received the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on April 1
• One week later, she started experiencing seizures and was rushed to St Rose Dominican Hospital
• Burkey was airlifted to a hospital in California, where she was placed in an induced coma and underwent three surgeries to repair blood clots in her brain
• Her parents say she ‘is improving slowly’ and is able to smile, mouth words and blink her eyes to communicate
• Burkey is one of nine cases of bloods clots following the J&J vaccine  being investigated by the CDC and the FDA 
• Rollout of the shot is currently paused and the CDC’s advisory committee is meeting next week to vote on whether or not to recommend lifting the pause 

A Las Vegas woman had to undergo three brain surgeries due to dangerous blood clots that formed after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, according to her family.

Emma Burkey, 18, received the one-dose shot on April 1, reported the Las Vegas Journal-Review.

About one week later, she began experiencing seizures and was rushed to St Rose Dominican Hospital, Sierra Campus in Henderson, Nevada, according to family spokesman Bret Johnson. 

Burkey was then airlifted to Loma Linda Hospital in California, where she was placed in a medically induced coma, intubated and underwent three operations to repair blood clots in her brain.

Her parents says she is slowly recovering and is one of nine cases being investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

It comes one week after the two agencies suggested clinicians stop using the shot after a handful of reports of rare, but serious, blood clots out of more than seven million vaccinations. 

Emma Burkey, 18 (pictured), of Las Vegas, Nevada, received the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine on April 1

One week later, Burkey (left and right) started experiencing seizures and was rushed to St Rose Dominican Hospital. She was airlifted to a hospital in California, where she was placed in an induced coma and underwent three surgeries to repair blood clots in her brain

Last week, the CDC and FDA reported that six women under age 50 who received the J&J COVID-19 vaccine had developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) blood clots.

One of those women is Burkey, which the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services says it did not know of until a public meeting of the CDC’s advisory committee last week.  

CVST is a rare type of blood clot that blocks the brain’s sinus channels of draining blood, which can cause hemorrhages.

It occurs in about five per million people in the general population. 

In the six cases, CVST occurred in combination with low levels of blood platelets, also known as thrombocytopenia. 

This figure of six was later updated to include nine people, but it’s not clear if the other three experienced thrombocytopenia. 

There is currently no evidence to suggest that the J&J vaccine led to the  blood clots. 

After delaying a vote on Wednesday on whether or not to recommend lifting the pause, the CDC’s advisory committee meet again on April 23 to decide.

Members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which develops guidelines for vaccine administration as well as schedules, appeared to want more data before proceeding with a decision.  

‘She is improving slowly,’ Johnson told the Journal-Review. 

‘The word we got from her parents last night was slowly, slowly slowly.’

As of Monday evening, Burkey has been taken out of the induced coma and off of a respirator.

Johnson said that the 18-year-old currently has a tracheostomy tube in her throat, but is able to mouth some words and communicated with her parents and doctors by blinking. 

‘She can [three-quarters] smile at will, and she likes to tease me about how bad I read lips,’ her father, Russ, wrote in an update on GoFundMe.

‘Her blinking is much improved. She had another CT [scan]…that shows no bleeds and a very little, but progress, in shrinking the damaged areas of her brain. Swelling of the brain is still an issue but not unexpected.’ 

Rollout of the J&J shot is paused after nine reports of blood clots and the CDC’s advisory committee is meeting next week to vote on whether or not to recommend lifting the pause. Pictured: J&J COVID-19 vaccine is held by pharmacist Madeline Acquilano at Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut, March 3

A CDC spokesperson told AOL that no additional cases have been confirmed in an emailed statement.  

‘We are encouraged that it hasn’t been an overwhelming number of cases but we’re looking and seeing what’s come in,’ said CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky during a press briefing on Monday. 

She added that the agency and the FDA were monitoring the U.S. government’s database for additional reports of side effects.  

Johnson told the Journal-Review that even though Burkey experienced a ‘massive brain injury,’ her parents are ‘cautiously optimistic.’

‘They’re cautiously optimistic because she is improving, but very, very slowly,’ he said. 

Hastening, a local ministry where Russ Burkey serves as a volunteer.

The family has started a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of Burkey’s medical expenses.  

As of Tuesday morning, it has raised more than $14,000, surpassing the original $10,000 goal. 

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