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Rich nations are vaccinating one person every second while the majority of the poorest nations have yet to give a single dose, the People’s Vaccine Alliance said Tuesday.
These same rich nations are blocking efforts by developing countries to waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines, the group said. The World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) committee meets Wednesday to discuss the TRIPS waiver.
“We should act now. There is no going back. It is totally unfair that rich countries, who have enough vaccines to protect their citizens, are blocking the TRIPS waiver, which could help poorer countries get the vaccines they need,” said Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate professor, and one of the leaders of the People’s Vaccine Alliance. “For the rich world, this proposed act of human solidarity to ensure that medicines and vaccines get to the whole human family simultaneously is in their own self-interest, not just an act of charity.”
The People’s Vaccine Alliance, a group of organizations including Oxfam International, Frontline AIDS, UNAIDS, and others, said that this is yet another example of rich countries prioritizing the interests of big pharmaceutical monopolies over people’s lives.
The proposed TRIPS waiver would remove legal barriers and allow manufacturers across the world to start producing vaccines at scale within months, the group said.
“One year into the global pandemic, it’s an outrage that vaccine factories are lying idle, unable to produce Covid-19 vaccines because rich countries are prioritizing the patents of pharmaceutical companies ahead of the lives of people across the world,” said Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now. “A global suspension of patents is needed to speed up the production of these vaccines everywhere.”
Cities around Texas have announced policies of their own to try to keep face covering requirements in-place on the local level in response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s order lifting the mask mandate.
This is where things stand as of Tuesday night:
Austin
Dr. Mark Escott, Austin’s chief medical officer, announced that masks will be required in the city to protect from the spread of Covid-19. The city mask mandate and other health rules remain in place through April 15, when they may be extended based on health authority and Austin Public Health Department recommendation.
Dallas
Last Thursday, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson issued an order mandating face coverings inside all city buildings. The new regulation goes into effect on March 10 at 12:01 a.m., according to a news release from the mayor’s office. In the release, the city argues that Abbott’s executive order dropping Covid-19 restrictions and lifting the state mandate does not prevent local governments “from implementing mask requirements in their buildings.”
Houston
In a news conference Monday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner reiterated employees and visitors will continue to be required to wear a mask on any city-owned or operated facility. “And look, we want businesses to open. We want businesses to thrive, and I was saying,” Turner said. “And quite frankly, I do believe that two months from now, the landscape will be much better than what it is today. I do believe that it’s too early now to just take off the masks.”
San Antonio
Michelle Vigil, public relations manager, told CNN on Tuesday that San Antonio is “currently operating at a 25% occupancy and will require masks for anybody entering our facilities.” CNN has inquired whether the mask requirement will be made via a new order issued by the mayor or city manager and did not receive a response Tuesday night.
El Paso
Last week El Paso announced on Facebook it “will continue to require individuals entering any facility owned by the City to properly wear a face mask over their nose and mouth.” A city spokesperson told CNN Tuesday via email an updated order has not been issued yet and that staff “are still finalizing.” “Our city facilities will continue to require face masks. All city-owned and operated facilities will require face masks,” El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said during a news conference last week.
Mailing rapid antigen tests to US residents to encourage frequent, widespread Covid-19 testing is a cost-effective way to prevent millions of infections and thousands of deaths, according to a study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Over a period of 60 days, if just half of the population tested themselves weekly and half of those who tested positive self-isolated for an appropriate period of time, the practice could help prevent about 2.8 million infections and 16,000 deaths, the researchers found. Even in the worst-case scenario modeled — where only a quarter of the population utilizes the at-home tests and a quarter of those who test positive self-isolate — about 3,400 lives could be saved.
In their baseline model, the researchers estimate that the at-home tests would cost about $12 billion and there would be about $10.5 billion in lost productivity due to self-isolation, but some of that would be offset by reduced resources needed to care for patients with severe or critical disease. Overall, the extra cost to save a life through at-home testing is just a quarter of what federal guidance cites as the “value of a statistical life, a benchmark of the societal willingness to pay for reductions in mortality risks,” according to the study.
Testing rates have slowed since mid-January, according to federal data. But experts say that testing remains a critical tool in the fight against Covid-19, along with vaccination and continued social distancing.
Despite concerns that home-based antigen testing may be unreliable and not widely adopted, authors of the study say it is a good complementary strategy for containing the pandemic.
“Our bottom-line message is: Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good; even a highly imperfect home-based testing program could confer enormous benefit,” they wrote.
As of Tuesday, 47 states plus DC are now allowing teachers and school staff to receive Covid-19 vaccines. By next Monday, teachers will be eligible in all 50 states.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee Tuesday announced a plan to get all teachers at least the first dose of the vaccine by the end of March.
New Mexico’s Public Education Department secretary also announced late Monday their aim to get all teachers at least the first dose of the vaccine by the end of March, and that all schools are expected to reopen for in-person learning by April 5.
In Indiana, Montana and South Dakota, teachers are now eligible under a federal pharmacy program. In Massachusetts, teachers are currently eligible at CVS pharmacies, with a full rollout beginning on Thursday.
Here’s where the other three states stand:
A Biden administration official told governors during a weekly call on Tuesday that they can expect up to 400,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to go out next week, though the administration is still waiting to confirm the exact number of vaccine doses that will be distributed.
“On J&J, I shared last week that we expect unevenness in allocations week-over-week through March,” the official told governors. “In keeping with our commitment to transparency, we expect to have an allocation of up to 400,000 J&J doses that we’ll be able to confirm as early as tomorrow.”
CNN has previously reported that Johnson & Johnson would have significantly fewer doses available in March and April than initially expected, which frustrated the Biden administration.
That number pales in comparison to the other two authorized vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Roughly 15.8 million doses of those two vaccines are expected to ship next week, according White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN Tuesday that it may update travel guidance for the fully vaccinated when the science is more clear and more people are vaccinated against Covid-19. About 10% of the US has been fully vaccinated so far.
“CDC may update its travel recommendations for fully vaccinated people as more people are vaccinated and we learn more about how vaccines work in the real world. This is something we will be closely watching in the United States,” CDC spokesperson Jason McDonald said in an email to CNN.
The CDC did not update travel guidelines for the fully vaccinated in new guidance it released on Monday.
The guidelines only say “follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations,” and the CDC travel guidelines page says to “delay travel and stay home.”
The airline industry and some public health experts characterized the new guidelines as too conservative.
But McDonald said that while the current Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective at protecting vaccinated people against severe illness, hospitalization and death, there is still a small risk that the vaccinated could become infected with a milder form of the disease and inadvertently spread the coronavirus to others who aren’t vaccinated sick.
Maryland is lifting its quarantine requirements and other restrictions for out-of-state travelers beginning at 5 p.m. ET Friday, Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday.
Currently, people who travel to Maryland – with the exception of people coming from Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, DC – must immediately get a Covid-19 test upon arrival and self-quarantine until getting a negative result, or get a Covid-19 negative test result within 72 hours of arrival, according to state guidance.
State authorities will continue to encourage out-of-state travelers to get tested upon their return anyways, but the official restrictions will be lifted, the governor said.
Hogan reiterated that Maryland’s statewide mask order remains in full effect and employers in the state are still strongly encouraged to allow for telework where possible.
Maryland’s state of emergency also remains in effect because it allows for the use of National Guard troops, the receipt of federal funding, and for the state to maximize its testing and vaccination capacity, he said.
Hogan cited improving health metrics for the reason why he is lifting restrictions, saying “the time is right.”
“Our health metrics are great, as I said, and it’s time to get our economy going,” Hogan said. He acknowledged that the Covid-19 virus can mutate and their health metrics can change, but also said it was “time to get people back to work.”
Chicago has added two states and the District of Columbia to its emergency travel order, the city’s health department website shows.
According to the latest information posted on the website, Texas, Nebraska and Washington, DC, were added to the Orange list. States that fall on this list are averaging 15 cases per 100,000 residents, the dashboard shows.
Anyone coming into Chicago from the 24 states and Washington, DC, will be required to quarantine for 10 days, provide a pre-arrival negative test result in the 72 hours prior to arrival or be fully vaccinated, which is defined as two weeks after the final dose of the vaccine, the website shows.
All travelers should continue to maintain strict masking and social distancing, the guidance states.
Chicago implemented the travel order in January to help combat the spread of Covid-19 in the city, as CNN previously reported.
Brazil reported a record high of Covid-19 deaths Tuesday, data from the ministry of health shows.
On Tuesday, Brazil reported at least 1,972 new Covid-19 deaths over a 24-hour period, bringing the country’s total death toll to about 268,370.
Brazil’s ministry of health reported at least 70,764 new Covid-19 cases, raising the country’s coronavirus case-count to about 11,122,429.
In the country’s southeastern state of Sao Paulo on Tuesday, a record number of 517 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded by state’s health authorities during the past 24 hours.
As of Tuesday, Sao Paulo’s death toll stands at about 62,101 Covid-19-related deaths and at least 2,134,020 cases, according to official data.
Brazil continues to be the country with the third-highest case-count of Covid-19 cases worldwide after the US and India, and the second-highest Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
By a vote of 219 to 210, the House has passed a procedural motion that allows for a final vote on the Covid-19 stimulus package.
One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden from Maine, voted no.
While just a procedural vote, the tally is a good indicator of how Democrats will most likely vote on the final bill tomorrow, which increasingly looks like it will pass on a close, and mostly party-line vote.
There had been some concerns that progressives would balk at some of the changes made in the Senate version of the bill.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said about 127,110 Kentuckians were vaccinated during the past week, breaking the previous record of 112,428 vaccinations set the week before.
According to Beshear, Kentucky will be able to order about 8,500 additional Pfizer and Moderna doses for two weeks from now, and around 5,200 Johnson & Johnson doses for next week.
“We were told that we would have zero Johnson & Johnson for this week, so that’s a good thing,” Beshear said, talking about the doses coming in the future.
“Then we think it’s really going to take off, because both Pfizer’s CEO has said we’ll see a lot more, especially near the end of March, and the end of March is going to be significant, the end of April is going to be even more significant. So we expect by that point, again, to do 700,000 individuals vaccinated, this month. We’ll do even more than that in April,” the governor added.
Walgreens has administered approximately 5 million Covid-19 vaccines through its stores, dedicated clinics and long-term care facilities, according to a company statement.
In the more than 60,000 clinics the company initiated in long-term care facilities, Walgreens says it vaccinated the majority of residents and staff who opted to get a vaccine.
Now that the company is nearing the completion of its vaccination program for long-term care facilities, Walgreens is coordinating with the Biden administration and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to vaccinate teachers, child care workers and school staff included in the next vaccine priority group, the statement added.
The federal government aims for all school staff to receive their first dose by the end of March.
The pharmacy chain says it is receiving about 1 million vaccine doses this week from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer for the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Through that program, the company is supporting vaccinations across 43 states and jurisdictions.
“Walgreens is incredibly proud of our more than 40,000 immunizers who ensured the successful administration of vaccinations in these facilities,” said John Standley, the president of Walgreens. “With their deep experience, as well as increasing vaccine supply, we are making significant strides in accelerating access to Covid-19 vaccines.”
The biotechnology company Novavax is currently manufacturing its coronavirus vaccine at 10 sites in eight countries — with two sites in the United States, in North Carolina and Texas, Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development for Novavax, told CNN on Tuesday.
“They’re all at different stages,” Glenn said. “Some are earlier, but all are up and running and working on the vaccine. So, we expect to have a very large capacity.”
Maryland is removing all Covid-19 capacity restrictions on restaurants and other businesses on Friday, citing “significant improvements in [their] health metrics,” Gov. Larry Hogan announced at a news conference Tuesday.
Although physical distancing will still be required, capacity limits will be lifted on all indoor and outdoor dining establishments, retail businesses, religious buildings, fitness centers, personal service locations, such as hair and nail salons, and indoor recreation centers, such as casinos, bingo halls, bowling alleys, and skating rinks, the governor said.
All changes will be effective on Friday starting at 5 p.m. ET, Hogan said.
Large venues, such as for conferences, weddings, or concerts, may expand their indoor and outdoor capacity to 50%, Hogan said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, outlined today two ways Covid-19 vaccines could combat coronavirus variants: vaccinated people could get specific booster shots against each variant that crops up or a shot that offers protection against several variants.
“Here is the challenge: Are we going to chase each variant in an almost ‘whack-a-mole’ way or are we going to try and get a vaccine that has a good degree of protection against several (variants) and get the level of virus so low that we don’t really have an outbreak proportion,” the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Tuesday.
Both strategies are being pursued in the US, Fauci said.
Dr. Mark Escott, chief medical officer for Austin, Texas, announced Tuesday that masks remain required in the city to protect from the spread of Covid-19, despite Gov. Greg Abbott lifting the statewide mask mandate.
Austin City Council passed an ordinance last year allowing the health authority to establish public health mandates and Texas state law allows cities to create their own health rules, according to Casar’s spokesperson Tara Pohlmeyer.
The city mask mandate and other health rules remain in place through April 15, when they may be extended based on health authority and Austin Public Health Department recommendation.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill the narrowly passed the Senate Saturday as “very liberal and purely partisan,” saying it was only able to get through because Democrats “put lock-step unity ahead of substance” when they defeated almost every GOP amendment to the bill.
McConnell also said that “Democrats inherited a turning tide” because the “vaccine trends and economic trends were in place” before this bill voted on and before President Biden was sworn in.
The timeline: The US House is expected to vote tomorrow on the bill, according to a Democratic leadership aide. The House Rules Committee will take up the rule today, and the House will approve the rule governing floor debate tonight, the aide said.
The nearly $2 trillion package includes up to $1,400 stimulus checks to many Americans, and billions of dollars for states and municipalities, schools, small businesses and vaccine distribution.
Roughly 90% of American households will be eligible to receive stimulus checks, according to an estimate from the Penn Wharton Budget Model.
North Carolina has fully vaccinated more than 1.1 million people, Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“This puts us even closer to a time when we can hug our loved ones and gather without fear of severe illness,” he said. “I’m grateful for the vaccine providers across our state for working hard to get shots off shelves and into arms, your hard work is saving lives.”
Part of the state’s vaccination efforts have gone towards fair and equitable distribution.
“In the last four weeks over 20% of our first doses have been administered to Black North Carolinians,” Cooper said.
The state will continue to focus their efforts on equity, according to Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The state’s positivity rate has stayed around 5%, which is on track for the state, according to Cooper. However, the governor cautioned about “celebrating too early.”
“Let’s continue wearing our masks and being responsible so that one day soon we can turn the corner on this pandemic,” he said.
Biotechnology firm Novavax is developing a booster shot to its coronavirus vaccine, and company officials anticipate that vaccinated people might need boosters every six months or annually to stay protected against Covid-19. Similar to others, Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine is administered as two doses given three weeks apart.
After the second dose, “we’re seeing that at six months, there’s a pretty big decline in antibodies and I think all the vaccine makers are going to see that,” Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development for Novavax, told CNN on Tuesday.
Novavax has initiated a booster shot study to gather that information.
“We have actually started a trial where some of the people who got our vaccine last summer, at six months later we’re giving them a boost,” Glenn said. “We’re going to see how good that looks in terms of immune responses – and it can either be one dose, given once, or maybe we kind of repeat the same thing we did before where we give them a three-week interval.”
Cases of Covid-19 in children have declined for the seventh consecutive week, with at least 63,562 cases being reported last week, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The AAP notes this is a “much smaller drop” than the previous six weeks.
Children make up about 13.2% of all Covid cases, and at least 3,231,836 children have tested positive since the onset of the pandemic.
In the 11 states that reported testing, children have made up between 6% and 18.5% of total state tests, with 5.3% to 30.7% of children who were tested testing positive.
Since states began reporting, between 1.3% and 3% of all hospitalizations were children, with between 0.1% and 2.2% of child Covid-19 cases leading to hospitalization. This is based on data from 23 states and New York City.
Overall, children made up zero to 0.19% of all Covid-19 deaths. Ten states reported no child deaths. Under 0.05% of all child Covid-19 cases resulted in death, AAP says. Mortality was reported from 43 states, New York City and Guam.
