Stock futures sink after US calls for pause of Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine rollout due to health issues

US stock futures slid on Tuesday morning after US federal health officials called for a pause in the rollout of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine amid concerns over rare blood clots.

Contracts on the Dow Jones sold off 200 points following the news. The S&P 500 futures were down 0.3% at 4,127, while Nasdaq also pivoted lower by 0.3%. A day earlier, all the three major indexes ended slightly below record levels.

Shares of Dow component Johnson & Johnson also sank almost 3% in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a Twitter post, pointing toward six “extremely rare” cases of people suffering a “severe type of blood clot” after being vaccinated. Over 6.8 million Americans have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with even more having gotten the job internationally.

The health agencies said they are reviewing data over six reported US cases of a severe blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine, and have recommended the pause "out of an abundance of caution," the FDA added.

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that “no clear causal relationship” has been identified between the blood clots and the vaccine, adding it is working closely with regulators to assess the data.

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