© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio Governor DeWine Says Pause In Use Of J&J COVID-19 Vaccine To Be Expected To Be Short

 Johnson & Johnson vaccine. [Vladimka production/Shutterstock]
Johnson & Johnson vaccine. [Vladimka production/Shutterstock]

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine advised vaccine providers in the state yesterday to temporarily pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson single dose COVID-19 vaccine.  DeWine's guidance to vendors came after the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration recommended the pause in usage out of an "abundance of caution."  Six women, between the ages of 18 to 48 developed rare blood clots within weeks of receiving the Johnson vaccine.

More than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been given to people in the United States.  In Ohio, the single dose vaccine was earmarked for use in vaccine clinics for college students and for the final weeks of the mass vaccination clinic at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland.

For its part, Johnson & Johnson says it is aware of the reports of blood clots but says there has been no causal link established between the side effect and its vaccine.

We check in with our Statehouse and Health units for the latest on the pause and the response to it.

Next up in the program, our youngest learners have suffered big losses during the pandemic. Preschool enrollment, considered vital in getting kids ready to learn, plummeted in the last year. Children dropped from the rolls, and didn't return or never went to preschool in the first place. Communities of color and poverty felt the loss most keenly.

Learning Curve is a statewide reporting project that examines the state of funding, opportunity gaps, curriculum, services offered and the impact of the pandemic. The series also explores what's next for public education and how educators, researchers, government officials and advocates are using the pandemic to improve public education for the future.

The project is led by WKSU, in partnership with ideastream, and this week WKSU's M L Schultze reports on efforts to restore and grow pre-K enrollment.
 

Later, the year 2020 proved difficult for people around the world as the coronavirus pandemic changed lives in ways big and small.  Those changes are still ongoing as we try to work our way out of the pandemic and get back to some sort of "normalcy."  The sense of loss from the pandemic can be overwhelming when you consider the lives lost and the time lost with loved ones due to isolation.

Coping with those feelings of pain, loss,  and fear and finding a safe outlet has brought together a collaboration between the University of Arizona's Poetry Center and the Wick Poetry Center of Kent State University.

Global Vaccine Poem site
 

Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV 
Lisa Ryan, Health Reporter/Producer, Ideastream  
M.L. Schultze, Reporter, WKSU   
David Hassler, Director, Wick Poetry Center,  Kent State University 
Carrie Wise, Managing Producer, Arts & Culture, Ideastream 
 

Leigh Barr is a coordinating producer for the "Sound of Ideas" and the "Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable."