Gov. Reynolds COVID-19 press conference (April 14, 2021)

Gov. Kim Reynolds will update Iowans on the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the Iowa PBS Studio in Johnston at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommended a "pause" in administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after reports of blood clots in six women.

Later that day, the Iowa Department of Public Health advised all Iowa vaccine providers to pause J&J administration "until more details are confirmed."

The state allocation of J&J vaccines has been suspended for the next two weeks, according to state health officials. However, IDPH reported it is not aware of any cases occurring among Iowans who have received the J&J vaccine.

According to Dr. Pyle Kohli, a medical expert based in Denver, the reported blood clots are significant but not alarming.

"The fact that it's so rare, less than one out of a million, provides me reassurance," Kohli said. "But this is coming right on the heels of the AstraZeneca vaccine just a few weeks ago in Europe being paused for similar reasons. And because both of these vaccines had the same type of mechanism of action, the same, you know, way that they're being used. There's a concern that this is a causal relationship."

Kohli said the CDC and FDA are doing the right thing with the pause. This way they can take the time to find out who may be at more risk for vaccine complications.

She also noted that women, in general, are predisposed to reactions like this.

"We know that being a woman, and being a young woman, predisposes you to a higher risk of this type of a reaction, which can occur not just after a vaccine, but it can occur after a viral infection, it can occur from certain medications, it can really occur from a host of different things," Kohi said. "And just to put this in perspective, the background rate of this type of a reaction occurring from some other cause is about three people out of 100,000."