A Mississippi man who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine suffered a blood clot and stroke just four hours post injection.

Brad Malagarie, 43, of St Martin, fell unwell after he received the first dose of the J&J vaccine, his family members tod local station WLOX.

Celeste Foster O’Keefe, Malagarie’s aunt, said: “They called me and said he had that vaccine, and something is wrong, we think it’s a stroke.”

Malagarie, who was a father of seven, was rushed to the hospital where health officials said that he had suffered a stroke due to a blood clot in his brain.

Celeste said: “I said, ‘Be sure to tell the doctors he took that J&J vaccine and that, to me, is what caused his stroke.”

Family members said that before the incident, Malagarie took medication for his blood pressure, but was a “young” and “healthy” man.

Malagarie is now paralysed on the right said of his body as a result of the damage caused by the vaccine.

Celeste said that Malagarie can no longer talk, walk, and he’s paralysed on the right side of his body.

“He knows who we are and he will just cry when he sees us,” O’Keefe said.

Doctors have stated that it is unclear how long it will take for Malagarie to recover, but his family are hopeful that he will be able to communicate and walk again one day, even if it’s not perfect.

As of press time, Malagarie was stable but still in a critical condition in the neurological intensive care unit of the Ochsner Medical Centre in New Orleans.

The Mississippi State Health Department and a local vaccine doctor, Lisa Morici, said that Malagarie’s case is different to the seven cases that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) cited for recommending a pause of the J&J vaccine rollout.

In a statement, The Mississippi State Department of Health said: “We are saddened to hear about the recent illness of Mr. Malagarie and wish 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.”

The Mississippi State Health Department paused their rollout of the J&J vaccine on 15^th April following recommendations from the CDC and FDA after reports of severe blood clots post injection.

Local news station WLOX reached out to Johnson & Johnson for comment but they did not respond.