April 13 coronavirus news

Reports of clotting cases potentially connected to Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine should not be overblown, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Tuesday. 

“I want to be cautious not to over-interpret the report because it is an early report and we don’t have details about these six cases,” he said. 

Gottlieb said his concerns now are getting mRNA vaccines – those made by Pfizer and Moderna – into areas where the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was being used, such as low-income and low-accessibility areas. 

A Premise Health healthcare worker loads a syringe with the Covid-19 Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine on March 26, in Buffalo, West Virginia.

The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine may return to being used in the United States following the recommendation to pause production, but more investigation is needed, and it would be premature to comment, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a White House press briefing on Tuesday.

“That’s the reason why the pause was done — so that they can take a good look at it, very carefully look at every factor,” Fauci said.

Some more context: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration are recommending that the US pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over six reported US cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot.

The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered in the United States.

Several states and cities — including Washington, DC, New York City and New Jersey — announced they would pause administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. CVS and Walgreens also announced they would immediately pause use of the vaccine.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, speaks during a briefing in the press briefing room of the White House on April 13.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said that people who took the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine “a month or two ago” should not be concerned about the recommendation to pause production.

“You’re OK,” Fauci reassured during a White House press briefing.

Fauci explained that the recommendation to pause production of the vaccine, which resulted because of blood clot concerns, is “out of an abundance of caution.”

“People say, ‘what does a pause mean?’ It really allows the FDA and the CDC to further investigate these cases to try and understand some of the mechanisms of what it is, some more detail in the history of the individuals involved, it might shed some light, looking forward, what will happen and what we will do. That’s the first thing. The other thing is to make physicians out there aware of this… “So, the pause not only allows us to take a look at the cases and learn more but it is also a signal out there to help the physicians,”” Fauci said.

“This is a really rare event. If you look at what we know so far, there have been six out of the 6.85 million doses, which is less than 1 in a million. So remember, this is something that we always — really out of an abundance of caution… to see if we can get further information,” Fauci said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing at the White House on April 13 in Washington, DC.

The decision to recommend pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine was done out of “an abundance of caution” and made by the US Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday. 

White House Covid response coordinator Jeff Zients said the White House was made aware of the decision from those agencies Monday night, but said the White House had “no other involvement” in the decision. 

“This decision was made by the CDC and the FDA and that’s one of the things that’s I think such a good thing about our system here, is that we’re ruled by science, not by any other consideration. So the decision was really thoroughly made by the CDC and the FDA,” Fauci said during a briefing at the White House on Tuesday.

The US Food and Drug Administration and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine provides time to investigate the extremely rare cases of blood clots following vaccination, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a White House briefing on Tuesday.

“Our FDA is internationally known for their capability of making sure that we have the safest products out there and that’s what I meant when I said, ‘an abundance of caution.’ We want to make sure that safety is an important issue here,” Fauci said.

“We want to get this worked out as quickly as we can possibly can,” he added.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients speaks during a briefing in the press briefing room of the White House on April 13.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said the the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration’s recommendation to pause Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines won’t have a big impact right now on the country’s vaccination program.

“The J&J vaccine makes up less than 5% of the more than 190 million recorded shots in arms in the United States to date,” Zients said to reporters in the White House press briefing room.

“The President took action earlier this year, before the J&J vaccine was even authorized, to secure enough Pfizer and Moderna doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July,” Zients said.

This week, 28 million doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be made available, he said.

“We have more than enough supply of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue the current pace of about 3 million shots per day,” Zients said.

A syringe is filled with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson Janssen Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination site inside Reuther Hall at Forty Acres on March 13 in Delano, California.

The World Health Organization will wait for further information on adverse events potentially related to Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine, the organization said Tuesday. 

“We’re watching closely, waiting for EMA and FDA reviews, and monitoring the global database of adverse event reports to see if there have been cases anywhere else,” WHO said in an email to CNN, referring to the European Medicines Agency and US Food and Drug Administration. “It will take a little time to review the data.”

According to WHO, the organization’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety will communicate any findings on these reports following a review of data. WHO encouraged national regulators to work together to compile information on adverse events, but said that events are still incredibly rare. 

According to Gavi, the organization which handles manufacturing agreements for WHO’s vaccination efforts, the COVAX program has agreed to access 500 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine for the purpose of global distribution. 

Last week, WHO updated its recommendations on AstraZeneca’s vaccine to indicate there is a “plausible” link between AstraZeneca’s vaccine and clotting events. 

Delaware opened up vaccination eligibility to people 16 and older on Tuesday, the governor said in a release.

“This news means that any eligible Delawarean who wants a COVID-19 vaccine should be able to get one — whether it’s at their doctor’s office, a local pharmacy, or a community vaccination event,” Gov. John Carney said in the statement.

The numbers: At least 568,003 vaccines doses have been administered in the state, according to the release.

Doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are prepared at a clinic targeting immigrant community members on March 25 in Los Angeles.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration this morning recommended that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine following reports of several cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot.

If you’re just reading in now, here’s what you need to know about the vaccine, the rare clots and what happens next:

A dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is prepared on April 7 in New York City.

There appears to be similarities between the rare blood clotting events possibly associated with Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine and the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during a virtual briefing on Tuesday. 

“It’s plainly obvious to us already that what we’re seeing with the Janssen vaccines looks very similar to what was being seen with the AstraZeneca vaccine,” Marks said. Janssen is the vaccine arm of Johnson & Johnson. 

The European Medicines Agency recently concluded that unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as “very rare side effects” of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The AstraZeneca vaccine isn’t in use in the United States but has been authorized in other countries. 

The mechanism behind the blood clotting events among those who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine remains unknown – but may be similar to the mechanism behind possible events connected to the AstraZeneca vaccine, Marks said.

“We don’t have a definitive cause, but the probable cause that we believe may be involved here – that we can speculate – is a similar mechanism that may be going on with the other adenoviral vector vaccine,” Marks said. “That is that this is an immune response that occurs very, very rarely after some people receive the vaccine and that immune response leads to activation of the platelets and these extremely rare blood clots.”

The rare blood clotting events among six people who have received the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine do not appear to be connected to birth control, but the events are still being investigated, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during a virtual briefing on Tuesday.

“At this time, it’s not clear that there’s any association with the oral contraceptive pill birth control in the individuals who had these blood clots,” Marks said.

Overall, Marks added that it’s too early to tell exactly how many blood clotting events may have occurred or may emerge in connection to the vaccine.

A general view of Caju cemetery is seen on March 24 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro, the second most populous city in Brazil, registered more deaths than births for the sixth month in a row ending in March, according to the Brazil’s civil registry.

There were 16% more deaths than births in Rio de Janeiro since October, with a total of 36,437 deaths and 32,060 births in those six months, according to the civil registry.

The city has been facing a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths in the past months. When the pandemic reached its peak in the region last year, in May and June, Rio de Janeiro registered 52% more deaths than births.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, Rio de Janeiro had more births than deaths in only five out of thirteen months, according to the civil registry.

Rio de Janeiro currently has 237,974 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 21,752 deaths, according to figures from the municipal health secretariat.

One person who experienced a rare type of blood clot after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine has died and another is in critical condition, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during a virtual briefing on Tuesday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA are recommending that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine following six reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot.

All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, the CDC and FDA said, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination. 

Doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine are prepared at a clinic in Los Angeles, California, on March 25.  

Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said she expects the pause of the Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine to be “a matter of days.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA recommended the US pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six cases of a “rare and severe” blood clot were reported among the more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the US.

The CDC will hold an emergency meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) tomorrow from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET to review the blood clot cases. The FDA will also review the ACIP’s analysis as it investigates the cases.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, said Tuesday that the intent is to “provide an update regularly.”

“We are committed to an expeditious review of the available information, and to an aggressive outreach to clinicians so that they know how to diagnose, treat and report,” Schuchat said. “One of the things that the ACIP’s deliberation will do is review the data on the cases, and the context of risks, benefits and possible subsets of the population that may be in a different category.”

A nurse prepares a Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine dose on March 25, in Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Peter Marks, director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research, said the recommendation to pause the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine over blood clot concerns is “not a mandate.”

“A provider and patient can make the determination whether or not to receive the vaccine,” Marks said. 

Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that 121 million people have been vaccinated with at least one dose of one of the three vaccines.

“With our intensive safety monitoring, we have not detected this type of syndrome with the low platelets among the other vaccines,” she said. “So we’re taking this pause and precautions around the J&J product in the context of a large, robust, and highly safe and effective vaccination effort.”

Clotting events that may be linked to Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine could be a result of an immune response, Dr. Peter Marks, director of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said on Tuesday. 

Acting FDA Director Janet Woodcock called this the “leading” theory on the clotting response right now.

“The person being vaccinated makes an immune response potentially that actually involves their own platelets or other parts of the coagulation system and can cause this problem,” Woodcock said. “That’s the sort of leading theory or hypothesis about what’s going on here.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will hold an emergency meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. ET Wednesday to review “rare and severe” blood clot cases among people who received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. 

The meeting will be virtual, with no in-person attendance.

The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration have recommended that the United States pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine until the review is complete. 

The FDA will also review the ACIP’s analysis as it investigates the cases, according to a joint statement on Tuesday from Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The US Food and Drug Administration and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly made the recommendation to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine – even without giving states a heads up – because of concern that rare blood clot incidents might be treated inappropriately. 

The rare type of blood clots observed in association with the vaccine require unique treatment, officials said. The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the US.

“The issue here with these types of blood clots is that if one administers the standard treatment that we as doctors have learned to give for blood clots, one can cause tremendous harm,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said during a virtual briefing on Tuesday. 

Marks added that health care providers had to be made aware of the pause immediately in case they see patients with possible blood clot symptoms.

“This was taken rapidly in order to honor our commitment to the American public to ensure that any safety signal was fully addressed in a transparent matter,” Marks said.

Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock also said during the briefing that the decision to recommend a pause was made quickly to alert the health care community.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a briefing on Tuesday, April 13.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who received the Johnson & Johnson shot himself along with the city’s top health official, said all city-run sites will stop administering the vaccine in light of federal recommendations.

“The federal government has called for a cautious approach here. We are acting on that immediately,” de Blasio said Tuesday. “Here in the city we are immediately pausing all Johnson & Johnson vaccinations.”

“We have a lot of work to do to figure out how to make other adjustments and obviously we’ll be watching very very carefully for the results of the federal investigation here.”

New York City so far has administered 234,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine and “thank god no reports at all of any blood clots, but we take this very seriously.”

“Look it’s a challenge, and certainly something that makes me sad given how much progress we’ve been making lately, but it’s also an example of an early warning system working,” De Blasio said.

“I received the shot, our health commissioner Dave Chokshi received the shot, we believe in the effectiveness of this vaccine, but obviously we take seriously any warning and it needs to be fully investigated,” he added.

A healthcare worker loads a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on March 26, in Buffalo, West Virginia.

If you’ve already received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, here’s what you can do to “be on alert,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat. 

“While these events are very rare, we’re recommending a pause in the use of the J&J Covid-19 vaccine in order to prepare the health care system to recognize and treat patients appropriately and to report severe events they may be seeing in people who received the J&J vaccine,” she said.

Schuchat recommends that people be on the lookout for any serious symptoms, such as severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath.

“These symptoms are different from the mild flu-like symptoms — fever and so forth — that many people experience in the couple days after receipt of the vaccine. Importantly, there are three vaccines available. And we are not seeing these clotting events with low platelet counts with the other two vaccines. People who have vaccine appointments with the other vaccines [should] continue with their appointment,” Schuchat said.

While Johnson & Johnson vaccine appointments will be rescheduled, it may be a “bit bumpy,” she cautioned.

The risk for people who have received the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine more than a month ago is “very low,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a virtual briefing on Tuesday.

“For people who recently got the vaccine within the last couple of weeks, they should be aware to look for symptoms. If you received the vaccine and develop severe headaches, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath, you should contact your health care provider,” she added.

Shuchat added that the CDC is working on “aggressive” outreach to clinicians so they are aware of the possible risks and how to identify symptoms.

The CDC and US Food and Drug Administration recommended on Tuesday to pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to the risk of blood clots. There have been six reported cases among the more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the US.

“The pause provides us time for deliberations,” Schuchat said.

CVS and Walgreens are pausing use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing use of the vaccine. 

Six cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot were reported among more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the United States.

All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination, according to a joint statement on Tuesday from Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

“We are immediately implementing a pause in the use of the Johnson and Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine per the recommendation from federal health agencies,” CVS spokesperson Ethan Slavin tells CNN. 

Johnson & Johnson released a statement addressing concerns over their vaccine after the FDA and CDC paused use of the vaccine in the US “out of an abundance of caution.”

The company said they “are aware of an extremely rare disorder involving people with blood clots in combination with low platelets in a small number of individuals,” and are reviewing these cases with US and European health authorities.

J&J stressed that there have so far been six cases out of more than 6.8 million doses administered.

If you have already received the vaccine, “and develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination” you should contact your health care provider, the company said.

Read the full statement here:

A healthcare worker loads a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine on March 26, in Buffalo, West Virginia.

The US Food and Drug Administration and the US Centers for Disease Control is holding a media call right now after the agencies recommended this morning that the US pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine use over blood clot concerns.

The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the US.

All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination, according to a joint statement on Tuesday from Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Vaccine maker Moderna said in a Twitter post on Tuesday that its Covid-19 shot does not appear to have an association with blood clots. 

The statement comes just a few hours after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that the use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine be paused in the United States due to rare events involving blood clots.

“A comprehensive assessment of the totality of the available safety data for mRNA-1273 after over 64.5 million doses administered globally does not suggest an association with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) or thrombotic events,” Moderna tweeted, referring to its vaccine, named mRNA-1273.

Moderna’s safety analyses was performed used data through March 22, 2021, according to the tweet.

The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed to CNN on Tuesday that its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee is not expected to meet as part of Pfizer/BioNTech’s request on Friday to expand the age range for its Covid-19 vaccine to includes children ages 12 to 15.

When companies apply for emergency use authorization, or EUA, of their vaccines, the advisory committee typically reviews data and makes a recommendation to the FDA. Previously, it has taken an average of three weeks from submission to authorization for Covid-19 vaccines.

But for this Pfizer/BioNTech request, which would be an amendment to an existing EUA, the committee is not expected to be involved. This could mean a quicker turnaround than the initial authorization, but the FDA did not give a timeline for the decision.

“While the FDA cannot predict how long its evaluation of the data and information will take, the agency will review the request as expeditiously as possible using its thorough and science-based approach,” FDA spokesperson Abigail Capobianco told CNN in an email. 

The recommended pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not impact the Biden administration’s vaccination plan, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said Tuesday. 

“This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan: Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5 percent of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date,” Zients said. 

Scotland will allow its citizens to travel to and from England and Wales starting April 26, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Tuesday, as “encouraging” recent data allows for an acceleration of easing lockdown measures. 

Northern Ireland is due to review its restrictions later this week, “so we will review our approach to travel there before 26 April and we hope that that can be freed up to,” she said, adding: “It may still be necessary in future to have temporary travel restrictions to and from places with high rates of Covid, either within Scotland or other parts of the UK.”

Friday will see the “Stay Local” rule lifted, meaning Scots will be able to leave their local area “for the purposes of outdoor socialising, recreation, and informal exercise.” Six adults from up to six households will also be able to meet outdoors, up from four adults from two households as is currently the rule. 

April 26 will see wider travel permitted, as well as the reopening of all shops and pubs, restaurants and cafes – indoors as well as outdoors. 

 “It is worth noting that the restricted indoor opening of hospitality on 26 April will be three weeks ahead of any indoor opening of hospitality in England,” Sturgeon said. 

Cases in Scotland are at the lowest level since September, she said, and have declined by more than 85% since early January. The nation has seen higher infection rates than in other parts of the UK in recent weeks, however cases are now “falling consistently” with a 40% reduction in the last two weeks alone, she added.

Most of the country has been in lockdown since Dec. 26. Out of a population of 5.4 million, 2,682,706 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 with a first dose and 605,126 people with a second dose as of Tuesday, the First Minister said.  

Even with news of potential issues from Covid-19 vaccines, vaccination in general is still worth the risk, Emory University executive associate dean of medicine Dr. Carlos del Rio told CNN on Tuesday. 

Earlier this morning, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration recommend US pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine use over blood clot concerns “out of an abundance of caution.” The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the US.

Del Rio said it is still important to continue vaccinations and for federal agencies to understand any potential side effects. 

“I would recommend people get vaccinated. I would not say ‘do not get vaccinated just because of this very rare side effect,’” he said. “I would say that it’s the right thing to do for the CDC and the FDA to hold the vaccinations with the J&J vaccine, until we understand further what’s going on.”

Doses of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine are prepared at a clinic in Los Angeles, California, on March 25.  

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration today recommend US pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine use over blood clot concerns “out of an abundance of caution.” The six reported cases were among more than 6.8 million doses of the vaccine administered in the US.

Since we’re talking a lot about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine today, here’s a look at it by the numbers:

According to Andy Slavitt, the White House’s senior adviser for Covid-19 response, the US is “not dependent” on additional Johnson & Johnson vaccine to reach its vaccination goals. 

“If you do the math, there is plenty of supply to continue to vaccinate Americans at 3 million per day, and then some. That’s not to mention the fact that there are many doses that have already been distributed into states,” Slavitt said at a virtual White House briefing on Monday.

A dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine is prepared at a pop-up vaccination site on April 8, in New York City. 

New York state is following the recommendation of the CDC and FDA and pausing the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine statewide, New York’s top health official said Tuesday.

All prescheduled appointments scheduled for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be honored with the Pfizer vaccine, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said Tuesday in a statement.

He reiterated, echoing the federal agencies, that any adverse events related to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine appear to be extremely rare.

He encouraged people who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks to contact their medical providers.

“I am in constant contact with the federal government and we will update New Yorkers as more information becomes available,” Zucker said in a statement

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is reducing the number of people it will accredit as guests for the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the governing body announced on Tuesday.

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympics are scheduled to run from Aug. 24 until Sept. 5.

The reduction in guests pertains to IPC Honorary Board members (with the exception of international dignitaries) and participants from the 14 Recognized International Sport Federations including Presidents or Secretaries General.

There will also be a “significant reduction” in the number of IPC honored guests, distinguished guests and IPC guests, while National Paralympic Committee (NPC) Guest Passes providing access to the Paralympic Village have also been cancelled.

White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein offered some of the Biden administration’s first on-camera reaction to news that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be paused following concerns regarding severe blood clot cases, saying the administration is taking it “extremely seriously” and largely declining to forecast what it means for reopening the economy.

As for the economic impact of the pause, with markets down on the news, he declined to forecast those implications, but acknowledged, “There is a clear connection — in fact we’ve said this from the beginning, Andrew, and so has Chair Powell — between controlling the virus, distributing the vaccine, and a robust and lasting economic recovery.”

Later adding that “recovery is very much a function of people feeling and being willing to reengage with commerce,” Bernstein otherwise declined to directly say how this could change reopening predictions.

“What I can’t answer now is your question which is what is the impact about what we’re hearing about on this timeline trajectory. Because I just don’t have that information and it wouldn’t be at all useful for me to speculate,” he said.

But asked whether it changes the timing on infrastructure, he said it would not.

“It is just as important as it was a few hours ago that we make the requisite investments in broadband, in grid, in water, in modernizing our schools, our hospitals, and our ports and our airports and our rail,” he said, adding that infrastructure “will continue to be a top priority for our economic team and our president.”

Following the CDC and FDA’s recommendation to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine use over blood clot concerns, the District of Columbia health department is canceling appointments for those scheduled to receive it from today until Saturday.

The department will send out invitations to reschedule the appointments for a later date. 

Administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been immediately suspended at the Javits Center state facilitated vaccinated site, according to its SVP and Chief Communication Officer Tony Sclafani.

This comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration recommend that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over six reported US cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot.

Anyone who had an appointment to receive the J&J vaccine will be offered Pfizer, Sclafani said. It’s unclear how man appointments were scheduled for J&J that will now be altered.

Following production issues, Johnson & Johnson doses were already expected to be significantly lower across the state of New York this week, as well as across other states.

New York was expected to receive just 34,900 J&J shots – a drop of 88% week-over-week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

With an alarming rise in new Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations, officials say Michigan is now a hotspot for the virus in the US.

Just how bad are things in the state? Covid-19 cases per million people are four times higher what they were in mid-February. The percent of positive tests are also four times higher than the numbers then.

In one part of the state, emergency room physician Dr. Rob Davidson told CNN that hospitalizations have gone up “four fold in just the last two weeks.”

“Because we are seeing so many cases a day, our public health system is overwhelmed,” she said. “We are not able to get information on many cases nor are we able to identify their close contacts.”

And as variants run rampant – not just in Michigan but across the US – experts are concerned the state could be an early indicator for what other parts of the country could soon experience.

Read more here:

People crowd outdoor dining at a restaurant as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions are eased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S., April 4, 2021. REUTERS/Emily Elconin

Related article Michigan could see its worst Covid-19 case surge yet, official warns. Some say more measures are needed

A registered nurse administers a Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in Lakewood, California, on March 31.

Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine, said on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday that people who have gotten the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine will likely be OK, but they should be attuned to their body for possible symptoms.

On Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and US Food and Drug Administration recommended that the US pause use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over six reported cases or “a rare and severe type of blood clot.”

“So, I think what people need to be is, don’t freak out, I’ll be going on with my life, but I would be very attuned to my body,” he continued.

He continued: “If I develop shortness of breath, if I develop leg pain, if I develop a headache and I’m within two to three weeks of having had Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, I would immediately notify my health care provider.”

The German federal cabinet has agreed to amend the country’s Infection Protection Act that enables the federal government to impose nationwide curfews and lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The so-called “federal emergency brake” automatically overrules measures in Germany’s 16 states if the seven-day-incidence of new coronavirus infections surpasses 100 per 100,000 residents in an administrative district for three consecutive days, Chancellor Angela Merkel told a press conference on Tuesday in Berlin.

“We may now overburden our health care system” and we must help health care workers to overcome the pandemic, Merkel said.

“Our fight against the pandemic must be more stringent. We must stop the third wave,“ Merkel urged. “I am aware that these are hard limitations,” she added.

At present, only one state, Schleswig-Holstein on the northern coast, records an incidence-rate under 100, all other states report higher levels, Saxony and Thuringia are even above 200, as monitored by Germany’s Robert Koch Institute. 

The proposed law change must now go before Germany’s parliament for approval. For a nationwide lockdown to be implemented, Parliament must have consented to the Act and the incidence-rate threshold must be surpassed. 

Dr. Carlos del Rio said it’s the “right move” for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food & Drug Administration to recommend that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over six reported cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot.

“It’s rare. But I want to congratulate the CDC and the FDA for very quickly jumping on it, halting the vaccinations until we know more and really trying to understand what’s going on. I think vaccine safety has always been a priority. And I think this is exactly the right move until we understand what’s going on and what’s the way forward,” del Rio, the executive associate dean of Emory School of Medicine & Grady Health System, said on CNN’s “New Day.” 

More than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered in the United States. All six cases of the blood clot occurred among women ages of 18 and 48. 

“I would still recommend people get vaccinated. I would not say do not get vaccinated just because this very rare side effect,” he added.  

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03:30 - Source: cnn

India will fast-track emergency use authorization for Covid-19 vaccines that have been granted approval in the US, Europe, UK and Japan or have have been listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization, the Indian Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan announced Tuesday.

The goal of this move is to “augment our basket of Covid-19 vaccines,” he said in a tweet, adding that the decision was made based on the recommendations of India’s expert group on vaccine administration NEGVAC.

This comes as India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, is witnessing a record surge in Covid-19 cases despite rolling out one of the fastest vaccination drives in the world.

India’s total caseload stands at more than 13.6 million — second only to the US — including more than 171,000 fatalities. Vaccinations topped 100 million, with India being the fastest country globally to reach that milestone, reaching the figure in just 85 days, the health ministry said.

India’s drug regulator has also approved the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V.

In announcing the latest vaccine plans, Dr. Harsh Vardhan also said that government plans to assess the first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines for seven days for safety outcomes before it is further rolled out within the country. However, it’ll be mandatory to conduct post-approval parallel bridging clinical trial as per prescribed provisions.

A Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine is prepared at a vaccination clinic in Lakewood, CA, on March 31.

The new announcement from the FDA and CDC means all federal health channels – mass vaccination sites, community health centers and the like – that were previously administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will immediately stop for the time being, according to a federal health official. 

The agencies are recommending that states do the same, but it will be up to the individual states to make that decision because they are given a separate allocation of doses. 

The pause happened because this type of blood clot is not listed on the list of potential adverse side effects that were part of the emergency use authorization for J&J. While officials are stressing it is rare, they want health care providers to have time to understand what potential side effects are and how to best treat them. 

The CDC and FDA came to a decision late last night, a federal health official said. The two agencies will do a press call at 10 a.m. this morning to answer more questions about the development. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration are recommending that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine over “six reported US cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot.”

A federal official previously told CNN that US health agencies were taking concerns about blood clots and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine “seriously.”

An expert outside the government who is familiar with the situation agreed that health officials are taking the matter seriously.

There have been “four serious cases of unusual blood clots” reported after people received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to European health authorities. Like their US counterparts, the European authorities are investigating these cases and that “it is currently not clear” whether there’s a causal association between the vaccine and the clots.

The concern in the United States isn’t just about the Johnson & Johnson shot per se.

At a time when US health officials are encouraging Americans to get vaccinated as soon as they can, there’s a worry that news coverage about clots being studied in relation to Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine might make some Americans more hesitant to get any Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on March 18.

US officials are racing to vaccinate as many Americans as possible to beat another Covid-19 surge – and doses are being administered at a record pace.

But that’s not all the US needs to be doing right now. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US’ top infectious disease expert, told CNN Monday night that the country shouldn’t “declare victory prematurely.”

But with a combination of the fast vaccinations and a doubling down on safety measures, the US could soon see a “turnaround,” Fauci continued, and cases could start to come down again.

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Related article Here's what can help the US soon see a Covid-19 turnaround, Fauci says

India’s drug regulator has approved the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V as the country grapples with a second wave.

Sputnik V is the third coronavirus vaccine to get emergency use approval after Covishield, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and the Indian firm Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

Sputnik V, which has been approved for use in 60 countries across the world, is manufactured in India by the company, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.

In September, the pharmaceutical firm partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V and distribute the vaccine in India, according to a press release issued by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories.

The bigger picture: India reported 161,736 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, a slight dip following six consecutive days of record single-day rises, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Ministry of Health.

The country has recorded a total of 13,689,453 cases, which includes 171,058 deaths and 1,264,698 active cases.

A total of 108,533,085 vaccine doses have been administered and so far, to health and frontline workers and people aged 45 and above.

Several states have announced tighter restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus. On Monday, the northern state of Haryana announced a nightly curfew to come into immediate effect from 9:00 p.m. till 5:00 a.m. until further notice. 

The capital territory of Delhi, which reported 11,491 cases on Monday, is preparing for a surge in cases.

The state government has declared 14 private hospitals in the capital be made into “full COVID-19” hospitals and asked them not to admit patients other than those infected with coronavirus. Nineteen private hospitals have been directed to reserve at least 80% of their ICU beds for Covid patients while a further 82 private hospitals have been asked to reserve 60% of their ICU beds for coronavirus patients, according to an order tweeted by Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

Thailand’s government bans “water splashing” at its Songkran New Year water festival after the country reported record numbers of new coronavirus infections for three consecutive days.

On Tuesday, Thailand reported 965 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its total number of cases to 34,575 including 97 deaths from the virus.

Often referred to as the world’s biggest water fight, Songkran is a three-day festival during which revelers splash water – a symbol of cleansing and purification – on each other. This year’s main days of celebration start Tuesday and run through to Thursday though some Thai cities have been known to stretch out the fun a few extra days.

The government will allow religious activities and “mild watering” with coronavirus measures in place.

According to Thailand’s Ministry of Interior’s website, there are 41 provinces where mandatory quarantine is required but enforced at various degrees of restrictions and conditions.

Dr Opas Karnkawinpong said during Tuesday’s government press briefing that the prime minister has urged companies to resume working from home after the holiday is over.

Medical staff prepares samples from students at a new built COVID-19 test center for the beginning of the new semester at the university in Dortmund, Germany, on April 12.

Germany reported an increase of 10,810 Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute, the country’s national agency for disease control and prevention.

The reported death toll in Germany rose by 294 to 78,746.

The country has now reported 3,022,323 Covid-19 cases, with Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasizing the urgent need for people in Germany to be vaccinated to break the third wave. 

One to watch today: Merkel is expected to meet with Cabinet members on Tuesday to discuss ways to slow down the third wave.

Germany has seen a consistent rise in cases. On Saturday, the director of the German intensive care association tweeted that the country’s ICUs had reached “peak” capacity. Christian Karagiannidis warned that even with a hard lockdown, numbers will continue rising for the next 10 to 14 days and added that healthcare workers are “breaking down.”

Two new studies suggest that the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is more transmissible, but the variant does not appear to affect disease severity. 

The new findings clash with separate research that previously suggested the variant may be tied to a higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

One of the new studies, published on Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, found no evidence in a sample of hospitalized patients that the B.1.1.7 variant is associated with severe Covid-19. However, the variant was associated with increased viral load, which supports the growing evidence that it is more easily transmissible.

The other study, also published on Monday in The Lancet Public Health, found no statistically significant association between the B.1.1.7 variant and the types or duration of Covid-19 symptoms people said that they experienced. 

The Lancet Infectious Diseases study included data on 496 people who were admitted to hospitals in London and tested positive for coronavirus infection. 

Nose and throat swab samples were collected from the patients between November 9 and December 20. Among those samples, 341 underwent genome sequencing. The sequence data showed that 198 of the patients, or 58%, had infections caused by the B.1.1.7 variant while the others were cased by other strains of the coronavirus. 

The researchers found no difference in the outcome of severe disease or death between the variant and other lineages.  

But the researchers identified increased viral load among the B.1.1.7 patients. 

The Lancet Public Health study included data on 36,920 people who reported testing positive for Covid-19 and logged their symptoms into the COVID Symptom Study app between September 28 and December 27. 

The app – designed by designed by researchers at King’s College London, Guys and St Thomas’ Hospitals and the tech company Zoe Global Limited – helps track the spread of Covid-19 and the range of symptoms experienced. 

The study’s authors, based in the United Kingdom and the United States, analyzed the data reported in the app along with Covid-19 surveillance data for the UK.

The analysis showed that the prevalence of the B.1.1.7 variant in certain regions and over time was not associated with changes in Covid-19 symptoms reported in the app or the duration of symptoms.

The researchers found that the rate of coronavirus reinfections was low – with 0.7% of app users who reported a positive Covid-19 test, testing positive again after 90 days – and there was no evidence of increased reinfection rates associated with the B.1.1.7 variant.

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Laboratory technicians wearing protective equipment work on the genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Covid-19) and its variants at the Centre National de Reference (CNR - National Reference Centre) of respiratory infections viruses of the Pasteur Institute in Paris on January 21, 2021. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article B.1.1.7 variant more transmissible but does not increase disease severity, two new studies suggest

Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves number 10, Downing Street in London, on April 12.

The United Kingdom has reached its Covid-19 vaccination target of offering doses to all adults over 50, the clinically vulnerable, and social care workers, the British government said in a statement on Monday.

The statement said the target had been reached ahead of schedule, with the government having pledged to offer a first dose to priority cohorts by April 15.

The UK has now administered nearly 40 million doses, and fully vaccinated 7.4 million people, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro speaks at the Planalto Palace, Brasilia, Brazil, on March 31.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asked a senator to expand a parliamentary inquiry into the federal government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, to include mayors and governors, according to a recording of the conversation.

Sen. Jorge Kajuru published a recording of his conversation with Bolsonaro on social media, which Bolsonaro condemned on Monday. Bolsonaro said he did not know he was being recorded, and called for the full conversation to be released, which Kajuru then did.

The phone call: In the recording, Bolsonaro said that if the inquiry is not expanded, then only the federal government and its allies will be investigated.

In the full recording, Bolsonaro also cursed opposition leader Sen. Randolfe Rodrigues, calling him “a punk” and saying if the commission didn’t change the scope, he would have to “kick his ass.”

The investigation: Last week, Supreme Court judge Luis Roberto Barroso ordered a parliamentary inquiry to be opened by the Brazilian Senate on the federal government’s actions on handling the pandemic.

The inquiry would examine the possibility Bolsonaro and other federal, state and local leaders made omissions that led to hospital systems collapsing at the beginning of the year. Several Covid-19 patients reportedly died in the city of Manaus due a lack of oxygen.

Barroso’s order is expected to be voted on by the Court on Wednesday.

An Army medic removes vials of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine from a box at a vaccination site in Orlando, Florida, on April 10.

US health agencies are working to assess whether the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine is associated with a very small increased risk of rare blood clots, a federal official told CNN.

An expert outside the government who is familiar with the situation agreed that health officials are taking the matter seriously.

“The CDC is very concerned and they’re very working hard on this and monitoring this closely,” said the expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.

Cases so far: There have been “four serious cases of unusual blood clots” reported after people received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to European health authorities.

Some of the types of blood clots observed are relatively common, such as deep vein thrombosis, so it wasn’t surprising that among roughly 20,000 participants who received the vaccine, some would experience those clots.

What made FDA scientists take note, however, is that in the trial, about the same number of people received a placebo – a shot of saline that does nothing – as received the vaccine. However, when comparing the two groups, more study participants developed clots after receiving the vaccine than the placebo.

The link is “not clear: Like their US counterparts, the European authorities say they’re still investigating these cases and that “it is currently not clear” whether there’s a causal association between the vaccine and the clots.

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 25: One shot doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine are prepared at a clinic targeting immigrant community members on March 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. The clinic, run by the St. John's Well Child and Family Center, estimates it has vaccinated more than 100,000 people in the Los Angeles area amid reports of two undocumented women who were refused coronavirus vaccinations in Orange County Rite Aid stores. Rite Aid has called the refusals mistakes in a written statement. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Related article Federal official: CDC, FDA taking reports of blood clots and J&J Covid-19 vaccine 'seriously'