Johnson & Johnson Pauses COVID-19 Vaccine Trials

The company voluntarily paused its studies, including one in Phase 3, after an unexplained illness in a patient.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 3 min read

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COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, pandemic, coronavirus, clinical trials, safety, vaccine, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen

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Update (October 27): After the company did not find a cause for the participant’ s illness, Johnson & Johnson announced on October 23 that it is seeking to resume the clinical trial, according to a statement.

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen subsidiary, one of several companies in Phase 3 testing of vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, has temporarily suspended enrollment and dosing in all of its clinical trials after a patient experienced an adverse reaction during its Phase 3 ENSEMBLE trial.

The incident was first reported on Monday (October 12) by STAT after reporters received a copy of a document sent to outside researchers running the study’s individual trials. The document states that a “pausing rule” had been met to justify the suspension and that the online system used to enroll patients was closed.

“We have temporarily paused further dosing in all our COVID-19 vaccine candidate clinical ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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