The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines

As the US continues its push to get its entire population vaccinated, mass vaccination sites are opening across the country.

CNN correspondent Adrienne Broaddus was on the ground at a mass vaccination center opened up in Chicago, answering your questions about the vaccine rollout.

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There is concern around a recent stall in the decline of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States — which appears now to be “leveling off,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned during a White House briefing on Friday. 

“Over the last few weeks, cases and hospital admissions in the United States have been coming down since early January and deaths had been declining in the past week,” Walensky said. “But the latest data suggest that these declines may be stalling, potentially leveling off at still a very high number. We at CDC consider this a very concerning shift in the trajectory.”

The most recent seven-day average of cases — about 66,350 — is higher than the average reported on Wednesday, Walensky said, adding “it is important to remember where we are in the pandemic. Things are tenuous.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said during Friday’s briefing that the United States “has to be careful” when it comes to the spread of disease. 

“The point that Dr. Walensky made is critical,” Fauci said. “If we plateau at 70,000, we are at that very precarious position that we were right before the fall surge, where anything that could perturb that could give us another surge.”

Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks during a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 08, 2020.

A recent increase in Covid-19 cases in the United States might be the “beginning effects” of the spread of coronavirus variants, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned during a White House briefing on Friday.

“Our estimates now indicate that B.1.1.7 accounts for approximately 10% of cases in the United States, up from 1% to 4% a few weeks ago and prevalence is even higher in certain areas of the country,” Walensky added. “Earlier this week, new research came out about additional emerging variants in New York, the B.1.526 variant, and in California, the B.1.427 variant, that also appear to spread more easily and are contributing to a large fraction of current infections in those areas, adding urgency to the situation.”

Walensky said that Covid-19 cases have been increasing for the past three days in the United States compared to the prior week. While deaths tend to fluctuate more than cases and hospital admissions, the most recent seven-day average — about 2,000 per day — is slightly higher than the average earlier in the week.

Overall, the number of new US Covid-19 cases is beginning to plateau after several weeks of sharp drops, even as hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall.

The White House on Friday announced the launch of two new federal Covid-19 vaccination sites — one in North Carolina and the other in Illinois.

“The goal is to launch vaccination sites that use processes and are in locations that promote equity, deploying the CDC’s social vulnerability index,” Slavitt said.

Slavitt added that the locations for the sites were based on data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency  in an effort to target those who are most vulnerable to Covid-19.

Since Jan. 20, the administration has supported the establishment or expansion of 441 community vaccination centers across 37 states, territories and Washington, DC, Slavitt said on Friday.

 “Over the past month, we’ve provided 171 sites with federal personnel. We’ve deployed nearly 3,500 total personnel nationwide to support vaccination operations,” Slavitt said. “One hundred and seventy-seven sites have received federal funding and at the President’s direction, FEMA is reimbursing 100% of costs for vaccination operations.”

Slavitt added that President Biden is visiting a federally established community vaccination site today in Houston.

The current Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines seem to be safe and adverse events seem to be rare, according to a presentation at the US Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting Friday.

The number of reports of people having a reaction to the vaccine seem to be similar to what was reported during the clinical trials, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Tom Shimabukuro.

The CDC looked at reports of adverse reactions through Feb. 16. At that point, 55 million doses had been administered in the US.

There were just more than 100,000 reports of which 94% were considered “non-serious” and 6% met the regulatory definition of “serious.”

The reports were gathered in a passive surveillance system co-managed by the CDC and the FDA, called V-safe. The system can rapidly detect safety signals if there is a problem with any of the vaccines. 

“The reactogenicity profiles of the mRNA vaccines in V-safe are consistent with what was observed in the clinical trials,” Shimabukuro said. “Anaphylaxis does occur, though rarely, and there’s no safety signals for any serious adverse events,” he added

He added anaphylaxis – a severe allergic reaction– is also treatable. The CDC guidelines say that people who get the vaccine must stay on location to be observed for 15 to 30 minutes after receiving their shot, that way if they have breathing problems, trained medical personnel can quickly help.

The CDC will continue to monitor the safety of people who receive the vaccines.

Worrying coronavirus variants are likely far more common across the US than testing indicates and could drive new surges in the spread of the virus, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert said Friday.

One first identified in the UK, called B.1.1.7, is more contagious and might cause more severe disease, although it doesn’t seem to be more deadly, CDC epidemiologist Adam MacNeil told a meeting of US Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisers. 

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is meeting now to consider emergency use authorization for Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. If it wins EUA, it would become the third vaccine to become available in the US and the first one-shot vaccine.

The rise of variants makes vaccination more important than ever, CDC has said. It reports more than 2,100 samples of B.1.1.7 have been seen in 43 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. But there’s not nearly enough testing to know the full picture, MacNeil told the committee.

Plus, testing is so slow that it’s unlikely contact tracing could be used to track the spread of the variants, he said.

In countries where the variants have arisen, there have been new surges of viral spread, MacNeil noted. “We are moving in the right direction with a strong downward trend in the number of cases,” he told the committee, which will vote later Friday on whether to recommend EUA. The FDA could accept or reject that recommendation as early as Friday night.

Tests indicate the B.1.1.7 variant does not evade the effects of vaccines, but another one, called B.1.351, which was first identified in South Africa, may weaken the vaccine response somewhat – although testing has suggested current vaccines still protect against that variant, also.

US Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisers are meeting now to discuss the potential emergency authorization of a third coronavirus vaccine for the US, this one made by Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine arm Janssen Biotech.

It’s the next step in a process that could end with the new vaccine’s rollout early next week. As with the two currently authorized vaccines, advisers and federal agencies are meeting over a weekend to try to get the vaccines to the US public as soon as possible.

Here are some key things to know about the vaccine:

The vaccine’s safety: The FDA analysis said the J&J vaccine has a “favorable safety profile.” The side effects were mostly mild. The most common were pain at the injection site, headache, fatigue and muscle pain. Some people had hives. Most of these side effects went away in one or two days.

There appeared to be more incidents related to blood clotting and ringing in the ears among those people who got the vaccine in the trial, compared to those who didn’t, but the FDA notes that “data at this time are insufficient to determine a causal relationship between these events and the vaccine.” There were no reports of serious allergic reactions with this one.

Protection offered by the single-dose shot: With any vaccine it takes your body a few weeks to build up immunity. Protection doesn’t happen right away.

With the J&J vaccine, it looks like protection against moderate/severe disease starts about two weeks after you get vaccinated. By four weeks after the shot, data from the clinical trial showed there were no hospitalizations or deaths. Remember: this is a single dose shot, so there is no waiting around to get a second to develop full protection. US trials of the J&J shot showed it provides 72% of protection against moderate to severe disease after one month.

Timing of its availability: The independent group of experts meeting today will determine if the vaccine works and if it’s safe. It will then make a recommendation to the FDA. The FDA usually follows its advice. The FDA could sign off on the vaccine as early as Friday or Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, is scheduled to meet and set guidelines for who should get the vaccine. Their vote is scheduled for 3pm.

From there, the vaccine could start rolling out of the J&J facility to vaccine centers around the country.

Read more about Johnson & Jonson’s vaccine here.

New York City set a record of administering more than 61,000 vaccines on Thursday alone, with more than 1.67 million having been administered to date, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.

De Blasio restated his goal to vaccinate 5 million New Yorkers by June, saying it can happen, with the right supply.

The meeting of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee has begun.

The VRBPAC will evaluate the coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine arm Janssen, and will vote later today on whether it recommends FDA Emergency Use Authorization for the vaccine.

As a US Food and Drug Administration panel meets this morning to consider emergency use authorization for a third Covid-19 vaccine in the US, Dr. Sanjay Gupta answered some viewer questions about vaccines on CNN’s “New Day.” 

Do you need to wear a mask if you’ve been vaccinated and are around some other people who are vaccinated? 

“It’s low risk,” Gupta said. “You can feel pretty confident you’re not going to get sick if you’ve been vaccinated. Could you still potentially be holding the virus, carrying the virus, and potentially transmit it? Yes. It seems low likelihood but, yes.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said a fully vaccinated person does not have to do the recommended quarantine if they come into contact with someone who is known to be infected with the coronavirus, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci thinks more guidance is coming. 

Gupta also said he thinks there may be a change in official recommendations regarding the scenario of gathering with other vaccinated individuals. 

I currently am enrolled in asymptomatic testing on a weekly basis with my employer. Once I get the second vaccine shot, will/should I continue testing?

Yes, Gupta says. “This is the exact data, probably more than anything else, that we need to know within the next couple of months,” he said. 

“If you continue to get tested, other people continue to get tested, after these vaccines, that’s how we’ll figure out for sure whether or not the vaccine is preventing infection,” Gupta said.

After you’re vaccinated, can you resume your old daily activities? 

“You should feel very confident that you’re not going to get sick. And that is not to be underestimated. But you could still be a carrier. I mean, that is the bottom line right now,” Gupta said. 

“We’ll probably get to the point offer the spring and summer where transmission rates come down so low that we’ll have some sort of functional herd immunity and may see some relaxing of the guidelines. But I don’t know that it’s going to be linear,” Gupta said, adding that we could see some upticks in the winter.  

“Being vaccinated is great, but you have this obligation to others to not spread the virus to them,” Gupta said. 

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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga meets the press at his office in Tokyo, on February 26.

Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Friday that the country will lift the state of emergency in six prefectures at the end of the month, a week earlier than scheduled.

The state of emergency will be lifted in Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka, earlier than the scheduled end date of March 7 as infections have declined and the strain on hospitals has eased.

Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, will remain under a state of emergency until March 7.

More on the measures: Japan had placed 11 of its 47 prefectures under a state of emergency in January as a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic swept the nation. One of those prefectures, Tochigi, has already emerged early from the restrictions.

“With the great cooperation of people, the effect is clearly visible and the number of infected people is decreasing,” Suga told reports at his office. “However, please continue to prevent the spread of infection with a sense of tension.”

A health care worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, on February 20.

More new research suggests a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine can protect against asymptomatic coronavirus infection, which could help reduce transmission of the virus.

Researchers used PCR tests to screen for coronavirus in vaccinated and non-vaccinated Cambridge University Hospitals health care workers who reported to work feeling well.

Unvaccinated health care workers were positive for coronavirus in 0.80% of tests; vaccinated health care workers less than 12 days from a single dose were positive in 0.37% of tests; and vaccinated health care workers who were at least 12 days out from one dose were positive in 0.20% of tests.

The study, led by Cambridge researchers, has not yet been published or peer-reviewed, but the authors call it “real-world evidence for a high level of protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection” from a single dose of the vaccine. They noted that the more transmissible B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, dominated at the time of their research, and prior infection was relatively low among the population tested.

A large study released this week by Public Health England (PHE) found that one dose of the Pfizer vaccine “provides high levels of protection against infection and symptomatic disease,” reducing the risk of infection by 72% after three weeks, while two vaccine doses reduced the risk of infection by 85%. PHE’s Siren Study involved health care workers younger than 65.

“These studies are very encouraging because they suggest that the vaccines will prevent the spread of the virus,” Lawrence Young, a professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, said in a response to the Science Media Centre in the UK. “You can’t spread the virus if you’re not infected and these studies show that the vaccine blocks infection in individuals who don’t have symptoms but could pass on the infection.”

A year into the Covid-19 pandemic, it appears that trends in the United States have finally shifted in a positive direction.

New cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are dropping rapidly, and the supply of available vaccines is growing.

The country could be well on its way to herd immunity, the point at which enough people are protected against a disease that it cannot spread through the population.

But it may take months to get there, and nobody expects it will feel like an overnight return to our lives before the pandemic.

More than 66 million shots have been administered, according to the latest federal data, with nearly 8% of the US population fully vaccinated. Promises from manufacturers indicate that the US should have enough vaccine supply to cover everyone by June. More than a quarter of the population may already have natural immunity after previous infection – and that number may be much higher than official counts show.

However, some new variants threaten progress, potentially lessening protection offered by vaccines and skirting some degree of natural immunity. Vaccine hesitancy may also create some limitations.

To understand how these factors may play into the future timeline of the pandemic, CNN spoke with five experts: Dr. Arturo Casadevall, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University; Justin Lessler, associate professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University; Jessica Malaty Rivera, science communications lead at the COVID Tracking Project; Dr. Aneesh Mehta, of the Emory Vaccine Center; and Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 28: People with appointments stand in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site at Lincoln Park in East Los Angeles amid eased lockdown restrictions on January 28, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. The California Department of Public Health has announced an updated COVID-19 vaccine delivery plan as the state has faced mounting criticism over a slow coronavirus vaccine rollout. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Related article When will the US reach herd immunity and what will it look like?

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved final rules for a new broadband subsidy program that could help struggling families pay for internet service during the pandemic. 

The agency’s $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit Program provides eligible low-income households with up to a $50 per month credit on their internet bills through their provider until the end of the pandemic. In tribal areas, eligible households may receive up to $75 per month and the program also provides eligible households up to $100 off of one computer or tablet. 

The congressionally created program is aimed at closing the digital divide, which has become painfully apparent over the past year as millions of Americans have been forced to work and learn remotely. For years, industry critics have pointed to inaccurate broadband maps and insufficient funding for rural areas as key hurdles preventing much of the country from getting online. 

Last year, Congress passed a coronavirus relief package that contained provisions for the FCC’s new program and the FCC has established a fresh task force to improve the data it gathers on broadband availability. 

Signups for the pandemic internet benefits could begin within the next 60 days, said Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC’s acting chairwoman, after the agency establishes the systems needed to work with internet providers. 

“This is a program that will help those at risk of digital disconnection,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. “It will help those sitting in cars in parking lots just to catch a Wi-Fi signal to go online for work. It will help those lingering outside the library with a laptop just to get a wireless signal for remote learning. It will help those who worry about choosing between paying a broadband bill and paying rent or buying groceries.”

Households eligible for the program include those who use food stamps, are on Medicaid, or have received a Pell Grant. Also eligible are those who’ve lost their jobs during the pandemic.

Two fully vaccinated people can gather individually with minimal risk, Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Thursday.

“You can start getting together as individual people, even though the risk is not zero, the risk becomes extremely low when you have both parties vaccinated,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not released guidelines about gathering with other vaccinated people. 

“My professional judgement is that when my daughter wants to come in here and she is doubly vaccinated, I’m going to have her over to the house, and I’m going to give her a big hug that I haven’t been able to do for a year,” Fauci said. 

The US has administered 68,274,117 vaccine doses, according to data from John Hopkins University.

It has recorded over 28 million cases and 508,307 deaths, the highest country total.

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At least one US foreign service officer traveling from the US – returning to their post in Beijing in mid-January – was subjected to a Covid-19 anal swab test, two diplomatic sources based in China with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN.

They later reported the incident to their superiors at the US Embassy in Beijing, the sources said.

US officials in China asked local authorities to refrain from subjecting US staff in the country to Covid-19 anal swabs, according to a US diplomat based in China.

“The State Department never agreed to this kind of testing and protested directly to [China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs] when we learned that some staff were subject to it,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN in a statement on Thursday.

On Thursday, China responded to a VICE News report which claimed that US diplomats in the country were complaining after having been administered the swab tests.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, told reporters at a daily briefing, “As far as I know, and I have also checked with my colleagues, China has never asked US diplomats in China to take anal swab tests,” 

The ministry did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on Friday.

Read more here:

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian attends a press conference in Beijing on Aug. 28, 2020. (Photo by Kyodo News/Sipa USA)

Related article US officials ask China not to subject staff to Covid-19 anal swab tests

German Health Minister, Jens Spahn speaks to the media in Berlin, on February 26.

German health minister Jens Spahn acknowledged Friday that Germany needs to ramp up its vaccination campaign.

“We still have too much vaccine in the fridge,” he told reporters at a regular health press conference in Berlin. To speed up the rollout of coronavirus vaccines, Germany will aim to swiftly distribute the shots through its network of family doctors’ practices, Spahn added.

Germany has inoculated 5.7 million people with the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine – 4.5% of the country’s population – and more than 2% have received the second shot, Spahn said.

Earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted that the sluggish start of the vaccine program has been a “disappointment” and added that the vaccination centers will soon operate “at full capacity.”

By the end of next week 11 million coronavirus vaccines will have been distributed across Germany’s 16 federal states, Spahn said Friday.

Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s public health authority at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), told journalists at the same press conference Friday that the country’s infection numbers appear to be stabilizing in recent days, warning that vigilance needs to be exercised or else “we will risk a third wave.”

On Friday, Germany recorded 9,997 new coronavirus infections – a rise of 884 cases compared to the same day last week, according to the RKI – bringing the total for the pandemic to 2,424,684.  

Germany coronavirus deaths stood at 394 within the last 24 hours – a drop of 114 compared to Friday last week. The country’s death toll now stands at 69,519.

The latest data from RKI indicates that the number of new infections per 100,000 residents stood at 63. The goal is to get the incidence rate to 35 per 100,000 in order to reopen the country, Merkel has said.

A medical worker inoculates a municipal worker with a Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in New Delhi, India, on February 22.

India has supplied more than 36 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to various countries, of which 6.75 million doses have been provided as grant assistance, a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said at a press briefing Thursday.

“As of now, we have provided a total of 36,194,000 doses to various countries. This includes 6,750,000 doses supplied under grant assistance and 29,444,000 doses under various commercial contracts,” said Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson for the MEA.

India is the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer and has pledged to donate millions of doses to neighboring countries. The country’s Serum Institute is producing the vaccine developed in the UK by AstraZeneca for domestic use and export.

The supply of vaccines to countries will continue in a phased manner over the coming weeks and months while ensuring that domestic requirements for the national vaccination program are kept in mind, he added.

India has sent consignments of Covid-19 vaccine doses as gifts to countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Oman, Afghanistan, Barbados, and Dominica.

India has also offered locally-made vaccines to all members of the diplomatic corps (foreign missions) and their families based in the country, said Srivastava.

“It has been offered not only to the diplomats of countries but also to those of UN agencies and intergovernmental organizations working in India. This drive will cover all the locations where they are based,” he said. 

Countries that have received the vaccines under commercial contracts include Brazil, Morocco, Myanmar, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.

Daily new cases in India have plummeted, dropping from a peak of over 90,000 infections in September down to just over 10,000 a day in February. On February 9, the capital Delhi reported zero virus deaths for the first time in nearly nine months, according to COVID19INDIA, a website that aggregates Covid-19 data from official sources.

In this undated handout photo provided by Buckingham Palace on February 25, Britain's Queen Elizabeth smiles on a video call with the four health officials leading the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccination in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Queen Elizabeth II has urged people to get Covid-19 vaccinations while adding that her own jab “didn’t hurt at all.”

“It is obviously difficult for people if they’ve never had a vaccine; they ought to think about other people rather than themselves,” she said in a video call with health officials leading the Covid-19 vaccine rollout in the United Kingdom.

Britain’s monarch and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, received their vaccinations at Windsor Castle on January 9.

“It was very quick, and I’ve had lots of letters from people who have been very surprised by how easy it was to get the vaccine,” the Queen said. “And the jab – it didn’t hurt at all.”

The 94-year-old monarch was meeting with the four senior officers overseeing the vaccine rollout in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Nearly 19 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of the vaccine, in one of the world’s fastest rollouts.

The heir to the throne, Prince Charles, tested positive for coronavirus and went into isolation in March last year. The 72-year-old later said he was lucky to only experience mild symptoms, adding he’d “got away with it quite lightly.”

The UK has recorded more than 4 million cases of Covid-19 and 122,303 deaths, the highest in Europe.

Cars are lined up at the mass Covid-19 vaccination site at Dodger Stadium on February 23 in Los Angeles, California.

More than half of Americans said they have already gotten at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine or want to get vaccinated as soon as possible, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported Friday.

A survey by the foundation found that 55% of polled US adults have either received a shot or say they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible. That’s up from 47% in mid-January and 34% in early December. Friday’s KFF Vaccine Monitor report also showed that compared to December, all surveyed demographic groups now have more desire to be vaccinated.

The KFF Vaccine Monitor survey, conducted from February 15 to 23, included 1,874 adults with oversamples of about 500 Black adults and 500 Hispanic adults. 

Black and Hispanic adults and people 18 to 29 are most likely to say they want to “wait and see” how the vaccine works among the general public before they get it. More than a third of Black adults and 26% of surveyed Hispanic adults say they want to wait and see, compared to 18% of surveyed White adults. 

The survey found 22% of those polled will either “definitely not” get vaccinated or only get the vaccine if required for work, school, or other activities. This remains consistent with the figures recorded in January and December, suggesting this group holds firm views.

Republicans, essential workers not in health care, and individuals living in rural areas were most likely to say they will “definitely not” get vaccinated. 

In light of the anticipated US Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization for the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 single shot vaccine, the poll found that about a quarter of individuals who wish to “wait and see” before being inoculated said they would be more likely to get a vaccine that requires only one dose. 

The poll found serious side effects to be people’s biggest concern about receiving the vaccine, with over half of unvaccinated individuals sharing this concern. 

About one-third of unvaccinated people also say they feared they could get Covid-19 from the vaccine – something that is biologically impossible – missing work due to side effects or paying out of pocket. These fears were more prevalent among Black and Hispanic adults. 

A health care worker at a nursing hospital in Ansan City is receiving an AstraZeneca vaccine on the first day of South Korea’s inoculation campaign on February 26.

South Korea began its vaccine rollout on Friday as health authorities extended current social distancing measures and bans on gatherings of five or more people until March 14, according to Health Ministry Spokesperson Son Young-rae.

Son emphasized that people should still abide by the measures while the government strives to safely and effectively form herd immunity. He urged people to trust the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine as explained by health authorities and actively receive it.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited a vaccination clinic on Friday to encourage medical workers on the frontline of vaccination and anti-virus work as he inspected the preparedness and operations, according to the presidential Blue House.

South Korea reported 406 new Covid-19 cases from Thursday, increasing the total to 88,922, according to KDCA. Four fatalities were added, bringing the death toll to 1,585.

Vials of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine are seen at the Klerksdorp Hospital as South Africa proceeds with its inoculation campaign on February 18.

US Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisers are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the potential emergency authorization of a third coronavirus vaccine for the US, this one made by Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine arm Janssen Biotech.

It’s the next step in a process that could end with the new vaccine’s rollout early next week. As with the two currently authorized vaccines, advisers and federal agencies are meeting over a weekend to try to get the vaccines to the US public as soon as possible.

The FDA has already considered the advanced, Phase 3 clinical trial testing data presented by Janssen and says it shows the vaccine is safe and effective. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee or VRBPAC is made up of vaccine experts and other medical professionals, industry and consumer representatives who will consider presentations from FDA about its findings, as well as from Janssen.

They’ll also hear the latest from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the spread of the virus, including worrying new variants, and on the CDC’s surveillance for any safety worries from the currently authorized vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Read more:

A healthcare worker fills a syringe from a vial with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against the COVID-19 coronavirus as South Africa proceeds with its inoculation campaign at the Klerksdorp Hospital on February 18, 2021.

Related article FDA advisers to consider third possible Covid-19 vaccine Friday

After six straight weeks of declines in new Covid-19 cases in the US, that number has started to plateau, even as hospitalizations and deaths continue to drop.

The 7-day average of daily new cases was just over 72,000 on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, a total that is relatively unchanged from last Thursday. Compare those numbers to the previous Thursday, February 11, when the US averaged about 102,000 new cases per day.

Experts say it is too soon to tell whether this one-week flattening represents a small blip or the beginning of a broader issue.

Read more:

Vanessa Garnes, head supervisor of Nurse's Hear Medical Staffing based in Columbus, OH administers a Covid-19 test at Rockland High School on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2021.

Related article US health leaders are preparing for all scenarios -- including another wave of Covid-19 cases