March 15 coronavirus news

A growing list of European countries have suspended use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine as a precuationary measure pending review from Europe’s health regulator.

France became the latest country to do so, following Italy and Germany earlier today, while they await a ruling by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Tuesday afternoon.

Previous guidance from the EMA has said the benefits of the shot outweigh any potential risks.

Here’s a look at the European countries that have suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine so far:

Meanwhile, the UK continues to use the AstraZeneca vaccine and maintains that it is safe. Earlier Monday, the deputy head of the United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunizations said there is no indication of a link between blood clots and the AstraZeneca vaccine and is encouraging people to continue to get the shot.

A healthcare worker of the Italian Army prepares doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on March 5 in Rome.

Italy’s medicines agency is banning the use of the AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine “as a precaution and temporarily,” pending a meeting of the European Medicines Agency, the Italian agency AIFA announced Monday.

France and Germany announced similar suspensions on Monday, while the UK said it would continue using the vaccine.

Doctor Marie Msika Razon prepares doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine before vaccinating patients aged over 50 and suffering from a comorbidity, at her medical office in Paris, on February 25.

France has suspended use of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford pending review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said. 

“The EMA will give its assessment tomorrow afternoon on the use of this vaccine,” he added.

The decision follows a number of other European countries who have suspended use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine pending further assessment, despite assertions from the United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunizations  (JCVI) that the vaccine has been “rigorously tested for safety.”

“We have one principle: be guided by science and competent health authorities, and do so within a coordinated European approach,” Macron concluded. 

There is no indication of a link between blood clots and the AstraZeneca vaccine, the deputy head of the United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunizations said Monday, as more European countries suspended its use.

The UK has administered nearly twice as many doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as the entire European Union plus European Economic Area, which have distributed 6.9 million doses as of Sunday, according to the ECDC.

A traveler walks through LaGuardia Airport in New York, on March 6.

More people have traveled by air in the last four days than any four-day period of the pandemic. The Transportation Security Administration says it screened 1,357,111 people at airports on Friday — a pandemic record and a number not seen since March 15, 2020.

CNN correspondent Pete Muntean answered viewers’ questions from Dulles International Airport in Virginia where passengers can now get coronavirus tests before they fly.

Watch:

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The B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, is still projected to become the dominant variant in the United States by the end of this month or early April, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a White House briefing on Monday.

At least 4,858 cases of coronavirus variants first spotted in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the United States, according to data updated Sunday by the CDC.

Most of these cases, 4,690, are the more contagious variant known as B.1.1.7. This variant has been found in 48 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, DC. Walensky said on Monday that “in some states, Florida and California, it’s up to 25%, and in other states it’s lower.”

CDC says this does not represent the total number of such cases circulating in the US, but rather just those that have been found by analyzing positive samples. The agency cautions that its numbers may not immediately match those of state and local health departments.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reviewing new data to see if physical distancing rules in schools should be changed to advise people to stay at least 3 feet apart instead of at least 6 feet apart, according to a federal official.

The official pointed to a study published last week that showed “no significant difference” in rates of Covid-19 at Massachusetts public schools that had implemented social distancing rules of more than 3 feet apart compared to those with rules to stay more than 6 feet apart.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, was asked about the study by CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday.

“The CDC is very well aware that data are accumulating making it look more like 3 feet are okay, under certain circumstances. They’re analyzing that and I can assure you within a reasonable period of time – quite reasonable – they will be giving guidelines according to the data that they have. It won’t be very long,” Fauci said.

More on the study: In the study, published Wednesday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine and their colleagues looked at data from 537,336 students in 251 Massachusetts school districts and did not find a difference in Covid-19 rates between schools that mandated at least 3 feet of physical distance compared to 6 feet – as long as everyone wore masks.

The study notes that while the CDC recommends 6 feet or more between students, the World Health Organization recommends 1 meter, which is 3.3 feet, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 3-6 feet.

“Lower physical distancing policies can be adopted in school settings with masking mandates without negatively impacting student or staff safety,” the authors concluded.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is urging the public to continue wearing masks, physical distancing and other Covid-19 safety measures

During a White House Covid-19 Response Team briefing Monday, Walensky warned that some European countries have seen a resurgence of Covid-19 cases after relaxing mitigation measures. These countries have had “strikingly similar” Covid-19 trends and surges during the pandemic as the United States, Walensky said.

With clocks springing ahead over the weekend, a recent surge in travel and the beginning of spring break, Walensky said she now worries that the United States could see a spike in Covid-19 cases as well.

“We have seen footage of people enjoying spring break festivities, maskless. This is all in the context of still 50,000 cases per day,” Walensky said on Monday.

CDC director: We still have much work to do

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The Biden administration announced it will increase Medicare reimbursement for Covid-19 shots, another step toward the administration’s goal of more equitable vaccine distribution. 

“We’re announcing that the Biden administration will nearly double Medicare’s reimbursement rates for administering Covid vaccines from about $23 per shot to $40 per shot. That’s $80 total for a two dose vaccine,” White House senior Covid adviser Andy Slavitt said at Monday’s Covid briefing. 

The move, Slavitt said, will “make it easier for more healthcare providers to get out into communities and give more Covid shots to people in need,” which will help get vaccines to the nation’s underserved communities more expeditiously.

Slavitt also explained that through the Covid relief bill, the administration will also be covering 100% of the cost for Medicaid and children’s health insurance beneficiaries to get vaccinated.

A new study published Monday provides additional evidence that severe Covid-19 can affect brain function.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, used advanced techniques to examine the brains of people with severe Covid-19.

The study found that patients with severe Covid-19 – and no other clear reason for their neurologic symptoms – were more likely to have movement disorders such as tremor or seizures, frontal lobe syndrome or brainstem impairment, which can cause problems with planning and social behavior.

These patients were defined as having Covid-19-related encephalopathy, or CORE.

The study was conducted at a single hospital in Paris between March 30 and June 11, 2020. It included 78 patients with severe Covid-19 who also underwent a special test looking at electrical firing of brain cells during their hospitalization, called an electroencephalogram, or EEG. Many, but not all, of these patients also had other advanced imaging techniques performed, such as brain magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI

Of the 78 patients included in the study, nine were found to have CORE

While the cause of brain changes in people with severe Covid-19 is unknown, the findings reinforce the hypothesis that the virus could be invading the frontal lobe through nerves in the nose, the researchers said.

The researchers also developed a tool using the patient’s clinical presentation, EEG and MRI to predict which people are more likely to develop CORE. But more research on CORE is needed to determine the utility of such a tool.

A general view of play on the fifth hole during the Par 3 Contest prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia.

The 2021 Masters Par 3 Contest will not be played when the tournament begins next month due to social distancing protocols, Augusta National announced on Monday. 

The club hopes the event will resume in 2022.

The annual contest, which usually occurs the day before the start of the Masters tournament, was canceled last year as well after the tournament was moved from April to November because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 85th Masters, scheduled for April 8 to 11 in Augusta, Georgia, will have a limited, unspecified number of spectators. 

The tournament will have similar health and safety standards to those instituted last November.  

Moderna announced it has launched an early-stage trial of an updated Covid-19 vaccine.

The vaccine is refrigerator stable, so it would be easier to distribute. The company is testing it as a single-dose vaccine as well as testing it as a double dose.

In future trials, Moderna said that the company will also test this version of the vaccine to see if it could work as a booster. Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson have said that they will be testing boosters, in case their current vaccines aren’t as effective against variants.

Nurse Liliana Ocampo administers the second dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine into the arm of Sister Patricia Supple, 86, on March 3, in Los Angeles, California at the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet independent living center.

Most people who have received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine are getting their second dose on time, according to early data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But CDC researchers warn that the initial groups prioritized to receive the vaccine – health care workers and long-term care facility residents – have had easy access to a second dose through their workplace or residence.

“As priority groups broaden, adherence to the recommended dosing interval might decrease,” the researchers wrote in their report published on Monday. 

For the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, it is recommended for second doses to be administered 21 and 28 days later, respectively, but the researchers noted in their report that up to 42 days between doses is permissible if needed.

The report includes data on more than 37 million people who received at least their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine between Dec. 14 and Feb. 14.

The researchers analyzed the data, taking a close look at when the first dose was received, whether a second dose was received and whether that second dose was received on time. The data came from 58 jurisdictions across the United States.

The researchers found that among those where enough time had gone by to receive a second dose, 88% of people had completed their second dose, 8.6% had not but there was still enough time to receive their second dose, and 3.4% had missed the second dose completely – meaning at least 42 days had gone by since receiving their first dose.

Among those in the data who had received both doses, the researchers found that 95.6% received their second dose within the recommended time interval.

The researchers noted that several winter weather events led to distribution challenges and vaccination clinics canceling appointments during the study, and more research is needed to examine the completion of second doses over a longer period of time.

Medical staff Thomas Holler gives a jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine at a vaccine center in Bremen, northwestern Germany, on February 26.

Germany is “precautiously” halting vaccinations with the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to CNNs German affiliate n-tv.  

“The decision today is purely a precautionary measure. It is a purely scientific and not a political decision. And that’s why I’m following the recommendation of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, ” a statement by German Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

“In order to maintain confidence in the vaccine, we have to give our experts in Germany and the EU the time to review the latest incidents.We are pausing to check. The result of the check is open and that’s why we are now counting on the EMA, ideally, coming to its decision and recommendation in the course of this week,” he continued.

Germany is now the seventh European country to suspend AstraZeneca’s use despite advice from the European Union’s medicines regulator that the benefits of the shot outweigh any potential risks.

Here’s a look at the other EU countries that have suspended use:

Travelers walk through Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on February 2.

More coronavirus testing facilities are opening up at airports as pandemic air travel continues to break records.

Two testing locations opened up before security at Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport on Monday morning. The new partnership is between the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and XpresCheck—the company known for its in-airport XpresSpa chain. The new locations are the tenth and eleventh at airports across the country.

Passengers can pay $200 to get a rapid molecular test for while-you-wait results or $75 to get to get an Abbot ID Now PCR with results in one to three days. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says both international and domestic travelers should get tested before and after their trip.

“Infrastructure like this in airports is going to be part of the new normal that give people comfort,” XpresCheck CEO Doug Satzman tells CNN. He says the company will also roll out a rapid PCR test in April.

Saltzman says those who test positive will be told to quarantine either at home or a hotel and their information will be referred to the CDC in hopes that passengers are prevented from boarding a plane. The CDC says it maintains a public health Do Not Board list, which is independent of the TSA-administered Do Not Fly list.

Dr. Anthony Fauci attends an event at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on February 11. 

Top Biden medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday gave his view on a new Massachusetts study that found “no significant difference” between six feet of physical distancing versus three feet of physical distancing in schools.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jake Tapper pressed Fauci on the research.

Fauci said the findings do indicate to him that three feet of distancing is good enough and that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is aware of the new data.

Gene Sperling speaks during a conference in Kalgoorlie, Australia, in 2015.

President Biden will announce today that Gene Sperling, a former top economic official in the last two Democratic presidential administrations, will serve as the point person in overseeing the implementation of the newly signed $1.9 trillion Covid relief law, according to two people briefed on the plan and a senior administration official.

Biden will announce Sperling’s appointment at the White House today at 1:45 p.m. ET during remarks about implementation of the law, according to the senior administration official.

Sperling’s mandate will be to get money out the door quickly and maximize its impact, the people said, while also serving as the lead official in partnership with state and local officials on the receiving end of billions of dollars from the law.

He will serve as the lead in advising and ensuring local officials get what they need, while also holding them accountable for any mismanagement of funds, the individuals briefed on the plan said.

Sperling has spent more than a decade at the highest levels of government, twice serving as the director of the National Economic Council, and will be tasked with ensuring all aspects of the sweeping relief law are put into place as designed.

In the next few weeks, the Biden administration will also launch a national vaccine promotional campaign aimed at encouraging hesitant Americans to get immunized, a marketing executive close to the project told CNN.

The advertisements are part of a $250 million Covid-19 education campaign run by the US Department of Health and Human Services, which will include a podcast hosted by “a well-known person” outside of government, the executive said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a press conference on March 9, in Berlin, Germany.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats took a beating in two state elections on Sunday amid growing public anger over the country’s sluggish vaccination rollout and a corruption scandal involving face mask production.

The historic losses come two months after the CDU elected a new party leader, Armin Laschet, and six months before a national vote that will see Merkel leave office after nearly two decades in power.

Merkel’s successor has not yet been chosen and Laschet will face serious questions over whether he is the right candidate to take her place on the ticket in September.

Commenting on the results in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wuerttemberg, states once considered party strongholds, Laschet said the CDU would have to do better work managing the coronavirus crisis.

The dual defeats are being seen, in part, as a reaction to the pace of Germany’s Covid-19 vaccination program, which has been dogged by supply shortages and bureaucracy. So far, the country of over 83 million people has administered less than nine million vaccinations – making it one of the slowest rollouts in Europe.

Frustration over the government’s handling of Covid-19 has been exacerbated by a recent face mask procurement scandal. Several lawmakers in Merkel’s conservative-led coalition have stepped down in recent days after accusations that they had received payments for securing face mask deals.

And after months of varying coronavirus restrictions and lockdowns, Germany is facing yet another surge in infections.

A member of the medical staff tends to a patient in the Covid-19 unit of the Bolognini hospital in Bergamo, Italy, on March 12.

A third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is threatening parts of Europe, forcing governments to reinstate restrictions first issued one year ago.

New variants of the coronavirus have been blamed for a spike in cases in France, Italy, Germany and Poland. The infection rate in the European Union is surging – now at the highest level in weeks.

Much of Italy was put in lockdown on Monday, with people only permitted out of their homes for essential errands. The restrictions will last through Easter weekend, when the entire country will become a red zone.

“More than a year after the start of the health emergency, we are unfortunately facing a new wave of infections,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said Friday, after announcing the new measures, news agency Agence France Presse reported.

“The memory of what happened last spring is vivid, and we will do everything to prevent it from happening again,” he added.

In France, authorities are under pressure from doctors to issue more restrictions as the country grapples with a surge in cases that has pushed intensive care units in the Paris region to the brink.

French President Emmanuel Macron has issued restrictions and curfews for several regions, but has stopped short of a nationwide lockdown. But on Sunday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said that if a lockdown was necessary he would “do it,” while urging the French to get vaccinated, Twitch website reported.  

On Monday, French newspapers marked the one-year anniversary of the country’s first lockdown. “One year of Covid, 90,000 dead, a great loss,” read the cover of left-wing newspaper Liberation. In the background were the names and ages of the deceased. 

Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge arrives at the Binnenhof for the weekly Council of Ministers meeting in The Hague on March 5.

The Netherlands on Sunday became the latest European nation to suspend AstraZeneca vaccinations over blood clot concerns despite advice from the European Union’s medicines regulator that the benefits of the shot outweigh any potential risks.

Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria and Ireland have also halted the vaccinations.

Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said on Monday that a “rare combination” of blood clots and lowered blood platelets in several AstraZeneca vaccine recipients in Norway and Denmark was “enough reason” to pause use of the vaccine in the Netherlands for two weeks.

While any causality remains an open question, reports about six cases in Norway and Denmark had given the Netherlands’ medicine authority enough reason “to press the pause button,” de Jonge said.

“Thrombosis is of course a very common complaint. And so if you are vaccinating a large group of people, it’s not crazy that there will also be people with thrombosis after vaccination. But in this case it is a very rare combination of thrombosis in which bleeding can also occur due to a reduced number of platelets,” he added.

The Health Minister had said as recently as Thursday that blood clots were occurring “not because of vaccination,” and that there was “no cause for concern.”

In a letter to parliament sent on Sunday, de Jonge wrote that the pause would be in effect until March 29, “pending further advice from the EMA,” or European Medicines Agency.

The EMA on Thursday advised that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the risks, and did not recommend suspending its use while investigation into thromboembolic events are ongoing. 

The EMA said it was aware that Denmark was suspending AstraZeneca vaccinations due to reports of blood clots in people who had received it, but said: “There is currently no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine.” 

The Danish Medicines Agency on Monday said the woman who died of a blood clot after receiving AstraZeneca in Denmark had an “unusual picture of illness around the death,” with a low number of platelets, blood clots in small and large vessels and bleeding.

“The clinical picture is highly unusual and is currently being thoroughly investigated by the European Medicines Agency,” the agency said in a statement.

Denmark is one of six European countries to suspend AstraZeneca’s use despite the EMA’s recommendation.

A medical worker prepares to administer a Sinovac Biotech Covid-19 vaccine in Hangzhou, China, on March 15.

China has administered 64.98 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Sunday, health authorities said Monday.

The Chinese government hopes to vaccinate 40% of the country’s 1.4 billion people by June, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said previously.

Four domestic-made vaccines have been approved for conditional public use in China, two produced by state-owned Sinopharm, one by Sinovac Biotech and another by CanSinoBio.

Pharmacists are seen at a vaccination center run by the University of Hong Kong on March 13.

Hong Kong will expand its coronavirus vaccination drive to include people aged 30 to 59, authorities announced Monday, as the city faces a growing cluster of infections linked to a gym.

The expanded vaccine program, effective from Tuesday, will also include students over 16 years old studying abroad and domestic workers. It is expected to cover about 5.5 million of the city’s roughly 7 million population.

The city will also open 12 more centers for the Fosun-BioNTech vaccine starting Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference Monday, the city’s officials said vaccination rates are currently “good” and that they may consider further relaxing social distancing rules if the public complies with measures such as mask-wearing.

Papua New Guinea reported 90 new Covid-19 cases Saturday, continuing a recent surge in infections that is raising concerns in the Pacific Island nation and in neighboring Australia.

Following a rise in cases since late February, PNG has now reported 2,173 total infections, with 21 related deaths, a government news release said Monday. 

Addressing a news conference Monday, the leader of Australia’s Queensland state, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said she hoped to speak with PNG Prime Minister James Marape in the next 24 hours.

The controller of the PNG Covid-19 national pandemic response, Police Commissioner David Manning, called on everyone in the country to follow the health measures in place to prevent further spread of the virus.

On March 9, Marape, the PNG Prime Minister, announced regulatory approval for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, adding “we are now in the process of getting the vaccine across, hopefully by April”.

About 100 people have been arrested and two police officers injured as spring break crowds gathered in Florida’s Miami Beach over the weekend, the city says.

Miami Beach Police arrested 30 people Saturday night, following Friday night’s unruly crowds that resulted in two Miami Beach police officers being sent to the hospital with injuries, the police department said in a post on Twitter.

Friday night’s incident involved a large crowd which was “disorderly and surrounding officers,” another tweet said. Miami Beach police tweeted that they used pepper balls to disperse the group.

CNN affiliate WPLG reported that Miami Beach police officers are working 12-hour shifts.

The weekend’s approximately 100 arrests included some for the seizure of weapons and drugs, city of Miami Beach spokeswoman Veronica Payssé told CNN on Sunday.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - MARCH 04: Fort Lauderdale police patrol the beach as spring breakers enjoy themselves on March 04, 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. College students have begun to arrive in the South Florida area for the annual spring break ritual. City officials are anticipating a large spring break crowd as the coronavirus pandemic continues. They are advising people to wear masks if they cannot social distance. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Related article 100 arrested as spring break crowds hit Miami Beach despite the pandemic

Boxes of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccines in Oss, Netherlands on February 12.

The Netherlands has joined a growing list of countries suspending use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine following reports of possible side effects post inoculation.

The Dutch government said Sunday it will pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for two weeks “as a precautionary measure and pending further investigation.”

The decision came just days after Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said there was “no cause for concern,” and that vaccinations could continue. In a statement Sunday, the Dutch Health Ministry said its Medicines Evaluations Board (CBG) had received “new information” over the weekend.

The statement said as yet no “causal relationship” has been established between the vaccine and the newly reported side effects from Denmark and Norway, but that it would pause use of the AstraZeneca vaccine until March 29.

AstraZeneca has robustly defended its vaccine, saying in a statement Sunday there were no confirmed quality issues for any batch of the drug, and “no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia” for people who had received it.

Some context: The Netherlands is the latest European country to partially or fully suspend its rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of patients developing blood clots after inoculations.

The European Union’s medicines regulator, the EMA, is currently investigating whether the shot could be linked to a number of reports of blood clots.

Federal Covid-19 guidelines “will be much more liberal” by the Fourth of July if US cases drop as more Americans are vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.

Asked whether people will return to a degree of normalcy without masks and distancing by the summer holiday, Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, replied: “Yes … there will be a greater degree of confidence” in that.

The comments from Fauci come nearly a week after the CDC released new guidance saying people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely visit with other vaccinated people and small groups of unvaccinated people in some circumstances.

The agency is still urging unvaccinated Americans to socially distance from people who don’t live in their home, wear masks and avoid crowds, measures that have been critical to slowing the spread of the deadly virus over the past year.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives for US President Joe Biden address about the Covid-19 response before signing executive orders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Fauci says Covid guidelines 'will be much more liberal' by July 4 if US cases drop