( WND )
A 43-year-old father of seven children in Mississippi was left unable to speak and paralyzed on one side of his body three hours after being inoculated with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, his family says.
On a Facebook page to help pay for the medical costs of Brad Malagarie of St. Martin, Mississippi, the man's family says he suffered a stroke Tuesday caused by a blood clot in his left middle cerebral artery shortly after getting the single-dose shot.
The healthy man got the shot at midday, then returned to work, and within three hours, his coworkers saw him unresponsive at his desk.
"They called me and said he had that vaccine and something is wrong, we think it's a stroke," Celeste Foster O'Keefe, Malagarie's aunt, told WLOX-TV.
"He's a young, healthy 43-year-old, and I immediately thought it, and I said be sure to tell the doctors he took that J&J vaccine and that, to me, is what caused his stroke."
"He can't talk now and he can't walk. He's paralyzed on the right side. He knows who we are and he will just cry when he sees us."
"At least we want him to be able to communicate, to be able to walk and talk again, even if it's not perfect."
The revelation came the same day U.S. health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration recommended a pause in Johnson and Johnson shots after six women developed serious, blood clots out of 7.2 million vaccinations. The figure of six has since been updated to nine, with two people suffering clots during clinical trials and seven after the vaccine was granted formal approval for emergency use.
On Saturday, O'Keefe provided an update on Facebook, saying, "Brad Malagarie is still in a challenging situation unable to walk, talk and is still paralyzed on the right side. He does still have a blood clot, in his brain, at the Middle Left Cerebral Artery," adding he's to be transported Monday from New Orleans to The Shepard Center in Atlanta.
"He will have to learn all of the skills we are accustomed to doing without a thought. They will work on his speech, walking and all activities of daily life."
"We have discovered that hospitals, even though required by law, have not always reported [adverse reactions] to the VAERS SYSTEM. Please let anyone you know that they can submit the data for themselves!"
She was referring to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System co-managed by the CDC and FDA to collect information on adverse effects from vaccines.
The Mississippi State Department of Health released a statement upon learning of Malagarie's condition, saying it was "saddened to hear about the recent illness of Mr. Malagarie and wishes him well. The Agency is certainly investigating the situation. It is difficult, if not impossible, to assign a cause and effect at this time. It is important to note that strokes are not associated with this vaccine – instead a rare clotting syndrome has been identified. Further, adverse reaction has been between cited between six and 13 days after the vaccine was administered. Of the six noted cases, all are women between the age of 18 and 38. Yesterday, the Mississippi State Department of Health paused all administration of the J and J vaccine until further guidance from the FDA."