April 21 coronavirus news

White House senior adviser for Covid-19 response Andy Slavitt told CNN the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are “in the process of putting together further guidance” for vaccinated Americans.

He added the CDC is “not always going to be as fast as everybody wants them to be, because they like to study the data and make sure that they’re, generally speaking, not putting things out that they will have to take back.” 

Slavitt also touted the White House’s newly announced efforts to counter plateauing vaccination rates by offering incentives for businesses to allow their employees to get vaccinated.

“One of the things that’s changing most rapidly is we have vaccinated the lion’s share of people over 65, and we’re doing pretty well with people over 50 – this week we have started to move in earnest to vaccinate working Americans,” he said.

For fully vaccinated people, the risk of still getting Covid-19 – described as “breakthrough infections” – remains extremely low, a new study out of New York suggests.

Among 417 employees at Rockefeller University who were fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna shots, two of them or about .5%, had breakthrough infections later, according to the study published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“We have characterized bona fide examples of vaccine breakthrough manifesting as clinical symptoms,” the researchers wrote in their study. “These observations in no way undermine the importance of the urgent efforts being taken at the federal and state levels to vaccinate the U.S. population. They also lend support to efforts to advance a new vaccine booster (as well as a pan-coronavirus vaccine) to provide increased protection against variants.”

The researchers, from Rockefeller University, found that coronavirus variants with several differences from the original virus caused the breakthrough infections.

A variant that infected one of the patients had the mutation E484K, which was first found in the B.1.351 variant originally identified in South Africa. E484K has been called an “escape mutant” because it has shown it might be able to escape some of the antibodies produced by coronavirus vaccines. One of the mutations found in both study participants’ infections included D614G, which emerged early in the pandemic.

One of the breakthrough infections was in a healthy 51-year-old woman who received her second dose of the Moderna vaccine on February 19. Nineteen days later, she tested positive for Covid-19 on March 10 after developing symptoms.  

The other breakthrough infection was in a healthy 65-year-old woman who received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on February 9. She later learned that her partner, who was unvaccinated, tested positive for Covid-19 on March 3. In the following days, the woman developed symptoms of her own. She tested positive for Covid-19 on March 17. 

More research is needed to determine whether similar findings related to breakthrough infections or variants would emerge among a larger group of participants from various parts of the United States.

For context: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN last week that the agency has so far received less than 6,000 reports of breakthrough coronavirus infections among more than 84 million people fully vaccinated nationwide.

Correction: The percent of employees at Rockefeller University who were fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer or Moderna shots and had breakthrough infections later was .5%. This post has been updated with this information.

Areas with low infection rates might safely roll back Covid-19 restrictions, but nationwide rates are still too high, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Wednesday. 

“If a particular region is really, really very low and doing really, really well, certainly I think there will be a differential in being able to say one can do certain things or not,” he said. “We think about and talk about these things every single day.”

Fauci said he expects the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to eventually roll back some of its guidance as more people become fully vaccinated, “provided the level of infection starts going down.”

“I don’t anticipate the CDC is going to be making recommendations to loosen things up when we’re having an average of 60,000 infections per day,” he said. 

President Biden said during remarks on Wednesday afternoon that the US is still on track to meet his goal of having small gatherings on Independence Day as long as Americans remain vigilant and continue to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Biden urged Americans to continue wearing masks and to get vaccinated before the end of May.

“We all need to mask up until the number cases go down, ‘til everyone has a chance to get their shot. To Americans 16 years and older: it’s your turn now. Now. So go get your vaccine before the end of May. We can do this. And we’ll do this as long as we don’t let up,” the President said.

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President Biden said the US is in the process of assisting countries with Covid-19 vaccines, and said there isn’t “enough to send it abroad now.”

“We’re in the process of doing that,” Biden said.

“We have talked to our neighbors,” Biden continued. “The prime minister of Canada, we helped a bit there. We’re going to try to help some more, but there’s other countries as well that I’m confident we can help including in Central America and so — but it’s in process. We don’t have enough to be confident to send it abroad now. I expect we’re going to be able to do that.”

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President Biden encouraged all Americans to get vaccinated to protect themselves against Covid-19.

Noting that “the broad swath of American adults still remain largely unvaccinated,” Biden outlined two reasons why all Americans need to get vaccinated: to save lives and to protect communities.

Vaccines will be available at nearly 40,000 pharmacies across the nation, Biden said.

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President Biden urged US businesses to give their employees paid time off to get vaccinated, touting a tax credit that can offset the costs of that time off.

“As we move into the vaccination campaign focused on working-age adults, one concern I have heard from so many Americans is that they can’t afford to take the time off to get vaccinated or lose a day’s work because they are feeling slightly under the weather after their shot, ” Biden said in White House remarks.

“No working American should lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they choose to fulfill their patriotic duty of getting vaccinated,” Biden said.

Biden pointed to two businesses that are already doing their part to incentivize vaccinations, including the grocery store Kroger offering its employees $100 to get vaccinated and a small hair salon in Ohio where the receptionist helps its customers schedule their appointments.

The President said that to make sure the “policy comes at no cost to small or medium-sized businesses, with fewer than 500 employees,” the IRS will be posting instructions for how employers can get reimbursed for the cost of providing paid leave to employees getting vaccinated.

“That reimbursement, which comes through a tax payment, is thanks to the program I launched in the American Rescue Plan. So, again, every employee should get paid leave to get a shot. Businesses should know they can provide it without a hit to their bottom line,” Biden said. “There’s no excuse for not getting it done.”

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CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Phil Mattingly contributed reporting to this post.

The eruption of La Soufriere volcano in Saint Vincent on April 9, 2021.

Following the recent volcanic eruptions in St. Vincent and evacuations that followed, shelters on the island have seen more than 137 cases of Covid-19, said Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne, at Wednesday’s media briefing.

Etienne went on to explain the state of the pandemic elsewhere in the Caribbean, saying Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic continue to drive the most infections. Smaller island nations like Bermuda, Aruba and Curacao are reporting a rise in Covid-19- related deaths, she added.

Expanding further across the region, “Nearly every country in central America is reporting a rise in infections,” Etienne, said, highlighting where cases are increasing in South America.

“Cases are accelerating in Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Uruguay. Argentina has also seen a rapid growth of new infections and has assumed the third highest case count in our region.”

An exception is Chile, where after the strengthening of public health measures, there has been a plateau in cases, according to Etienne.

More than 1.5 million new Covid-19 cases and nearly 40,000 Covid-related deaths were recorded in the past week in the Americas, Etienne said.  These figures include the United States and Canada, in addition to Central and South America.

“Over [the] weekend the world reached a tragic milestone — more than 3 million people have lost their lives to Covid. And nearly half of these deaths happened right here in the Americas,” she added.

Etienne also highlighted the inequity when it comes to access to vaccines and said the Latin America and Caribbean region has “the greatest need for vaccines” and that PAHO advocates the region be prioritized when it comes to vaccine distribution.

“We call on all countries that have more vaccines than they need, to donate them to countries that need them the most; particularly the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, in the Americas that have borne the brunt of the epidemic,” she said.

White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients, right, listens as President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations at the White House, Wednesday, April 21, 2021, in Washington.

President Biden said that the US would cross his administration’s goal of 200 million Covid-19 vaccines administered in his first 100 days.

“When tomorrow’s vaccination numbers come out, it’ll show that today, we did it. Today we hit 200 million shots on the 92nd day in office. 200 million shots in 100 days, in under 100 days actually. It’s an incredible achievement for the nation,” Biden said in remarks from the White House South Court Auditorium.

He noted that his administration’s original goal was to administer 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office.

“I’m proud of the work my administration has done to getting Americans vaccinated. But more than that. I’m proud of the American people,” Biden continued.

Note: Today’s US Centers for Disease Control vaccination numbers put the United States at 198.4 million doses administered under Biden’s administration, but these figures mark doses reported as of 6 a.m. ET this morning, and there is always a delay in reported doses vs. the total that has actually been administered.

A nurse inoculates a person with the second Moderna Covid-19 vaccine dose at a mobile Covid-19 vaccination clinic in Bridgeport, Connecticut on April 20, 2021. 

Nearly 216 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the United States, according to data published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reported that 215,951,909 total doses have been administered – about 78% of the 277,938,875 doses delivered.

That’s about 2.6 million more doses reported administered since Tuesday, for a 7-day average of just over 3 million doses per day.

Overall, about 41% of the population – more than 134 million people – have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine. About 26% of the population – nearly 88 million people – are fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.

Among adults, 51.5% have received at least one dose about 34% are fully vaccinated, and among seniors, nearly 81% have received at least one dose and nearly 66% are fully vaccinated.

Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported.

President Biden is delivering remarks from the White House on his Covid-19 response and the state of vaccinations.

He’s expected to tout the United States administering 200 million coronavirus vaccine shots since he took office and urge businesses to give their employees paid time off to get vaccinated, according to administration officials.

As a part of that call for time off to get vaccinated, Biden will also announce a new tax credit to fully offset the cost for small businesses and nonprofits providing paid leave for employees to get vaccinated, the officials said.

Where things stand on US vaccinations: More than 213 million Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the US in total, and about 133 million people have received at least one dose as of Wednesday morning, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

By CNN’s count, the US has administered about 196 million shots during Biden’s administration as of Wednesday morning. Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported.

Read more about Biden’s remarks here.

A dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine is seen on a table at a Northwell Health pop-up coronavirus vaccination site in Staten Island on April 08, 2021 in New York City. 

In the wake of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause, many colleges and universities that intended to administer the single-dose vaccine to their students have pivoted their plans to use the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines instead – but it comes with some hurdles. 

The new approach has the challenge of ensuring that students receive their second dose of vaccine, which likely will be administered off campus since the current school year is soon ending, Dr. Oscar Alleyne, chief of programs and services for the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told CNN on Wednesday. 

“It’s not necessarily contiguous,” Alleyne said. “You may be vaccinated here but a local site in another jurisdiction may not have access to that information, so it’s just reconciling how that logistically would be done.”

Turkey announced at least 362 new Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, hitting a record high for a fourth consecutive day. 

There were 61,967 daily Covid-19 cases, according to the Turkish health ministry pandemic dashboard. 

The country has administered a total of 20,586,650 doses of coronavirus vaccines since the start of its campaign in January, according to the health ministry dashboard. At least 7,903,495 people have received both doses, according to the ministry.  

Turkey went into partial lockdown last week at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan after daily cases and deaths hit record highs.  

Greek Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens on April 14, 2021.

Greece will gradually begin easing Covid-19 restrictions starting next month, but only after the Greek Orthodox Easter, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address on Wednesday.  

According to the government’s roadmap, cafes, bars and restaurants will be able to reopen on May 3, operating outdoor service only.  

Primary and secondary schools will follow a week later on May 10, and from May 15, the ban on movement between regions will be lifted to coincide with the official opening of the tourism season.

Earlier this week, Greece lifted quarantine requirements for vaccinated travelers and those testing negative from key tourism markets — the European Union, the UK, the US, Israel, Serbia and the UAE. Visitors are subject to current domestic restrictions. 

Mitsotakis said that a ban on movement will remain in place during Greek Orthodox Easter observances next week in order to achieve a “safe Easter” and a subsequent “free summer”.

Mitsotakis said that the pandemic situation in the country is stabilizing and reiterated the importance of the vaccine rollout, adding that starting next week people over 30 years old will be eligible to get vaccinated in an effort to speed up the process.

Greece on Wednesday recorded 3,015 cases and 86 new deaths. The country has recorded 323,639 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, and 9,713 deaths. The number of people in intensive care units remains very high.

Workers in protective gear as a preventive measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus disease bury coffins at the Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 17, 2021.

Brazil has the highest Covid-19 death rate in the Southern Hemisphere and the Americas according to data tracked by CNN, as of Wednesday.

According to number of Covid-19 deaths from Johns Hopkins University, and population numbers from the UN and World Bank, Brazil is ahead of Peru, the United States and Mexico in terms of deaths per 100,000 people.

Protesters gathered outside the Reichstag on April 16, 2021 where the Bundestag was in session for the first reading of new measures to rein in the spread of the coronavirus, in Berlin, Germany.

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, has voted in favor of an amendment to the Infection Protection Act on Wednesday, which would allow the federal government to impose nationwide lockdown measures against Covid-19.

In a roll call vote, 342 voted for the bill, 250 opposed and 64 abstained, according to the parliament website.

If the bill passes the Parliament’s upper house on Thursday, the government will be empowered to enact an “emergency break” lockdown which would trigger nightly curfews in some areas with high infection rates from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time (CET) with the exception that people can be outside until midnight if they are out alone. The bill also calls for strict regulations of schools in regards to in-person and online learning.

Up until now, Germany’s 16 states held the balance of power to self-determine their own Covid-19 measures. But the federal government sought a more unified approach to battle continuing Covid-19 infections amid a slower-then-hoped for vaccination rollout. 

There has been widespread criticism in the lead-up to the vote with members of the public and the political opposition questioning if a coherent federal approach to the Covid-19 crisis was compatible with Germany’s constitution.

Hundreds have been protesting across Berlin Wednesday against allowing the federal government greater powers, live pictures showed. There were violent clashes with the police and 152 protestors have been arrested, according to Berlin police.

If the bill passes Germany’s upper house, the amendment becomes law, and the changes could go into effect as early as Friday.

Doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in Orlando on April 10.

A senior administration official said Wednesday that the US Food and Drug Administration’s announcement indicates that the process “is working as it should.” The FDA said this morning that the Emergent facility inspection is complete and vaccine production remains on hold due to potential quality issues.  

Citing Pfizer and Moderna vaccine supply, the official said that Emergent’s continued closure will not impact the administration’s commitments to getting shots in arms.

“Our concern right now is not to try to rush anything, because we’re just not affected. The President’s commitments, obviously, the 200 million vaccinations wasn’t dependent on this. His commitment that we will have enough vaccines for all the adults who want them by the end of May is not affected by this. And so we will just let that play itself out. But the American public has two highly effective, very safe vaccines,” the official said.

Most fully vaccinated residents of nursing homes were not infected, even after someone in the same facility tested positive for Covid-19, according to a new study that looked at infections in nursing homes in Chicago from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Among the nearly 8,000 residents and nearly 7,000 staff that have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine since December, there were only 22 breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated, according to the CDC’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report published on Wednesday. 

The CDC considers people to be fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two weeks after the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Of the 22 breakthrough cases, there were 12 residents and 10 staff members who tested positive for Covid-19 after being fully vaccinated. Two-thirds of those who tested positive, 14 people, were asymptomatic. Two residents were hospitalized and one of those residents died, the CDC said. The person who died had three underlying conditions, according to the CDC.

There was no facility-associated secondary transmission. 

Although they are rare, the CDC said breakthrough infections can happen because no Covid-19 vaccine provides 100% protection. While some earlier studies suggested that the vaccines provide total protection against severe illness and death, data on vaccination and transmission in congregate settings like nursing homes has been limited.

Some context: The CDC said that this study confirms how important it is for people to get vaccinated, particularly in congregate settings where it is difficult to keep physical distance.

The study also shows that nursing homes still need to follow recommended infection and control practices. Residents who get Covid-19 still need to be isolated from others and residents that have had close contact with them should be quarantined. Nursing homes should continue regular testing and staff should continue to wear PPE, regardless of vaccination status. 

An ensemble forecast published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects there will be 579,000 to 596,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by May 15.

“This week’s national ensemble predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will remain stable or have an uncertain trend over the next 4 weeks,” CDC said.

The previous ensemble forecast, published on April 14, projected up to 598,000 coronavirus deaths by May 8.

At least 568,532 people have already died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore on April 1.

The US Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday that it recently completed an inspection of the Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore – which makes the drug substance that goes into Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. New production is still paused while FDA and Emergent work through several potential quality issues.

The FDA’s inspection ended Tuesday and “cited a number of observations concerning whether the facility’s processes met our requirements and standards,” Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting FDA commissioner, and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a joint statement released on Wednesday.

They emphasized no products will be released before meeting the FDA’s quality standards.

The FDA report says Emergent has not thoroughly investigated cross-contamination of a viral vaccine drug substance batch, and the investigation did not include a thorough review of how people moved in and around the facility as a potential source of contamination. 

The report also says, based on security camera footage and direct observation, written procedures to prevent cross-contamination “are not followed” during production and not documented. Components and product containers were not handled or store in a way to prevent contamination, the report says; written procedures to assure drug substances are manufactured at the appropriate quality, strength and purity “are inadequate”; and employees weren’t adequately trained.

The building used to manufacture the vaccine drug substance wasn’t a suitable size or design to facilitate cleaning and proper operations, and equipment used “is not of adequate size” to operate as intended,” the report says.

Additionally, the FDA’s inspection document notes peeling paint, unsealed bags of medical waste, residue on walls and damaged floors and rough surfaces that “do not allow for adequate cleaning and sanitization.” 

 In a statement, Emergent said it is “committed to working with the FDA and Johnson & Johnson to quickly resolve the issues identified.”