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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday unveiled a plan to reopen centralized schools that includes safety and mitigation practices such as physical distancing and masking, as well as the use of new measures such as “podding”.
Podding involves keeping the same students together (like in a pod) to reduce possible student exposure to the virus. But questions about access to critical resources such as better ventilation, testing and masks remain unanswered. At a press briefing on Friday, CDC officials said the onus was on Congress to spend the funding to carry out such measures.
The Biden administration has said it will prioritize education and bring students and teachers back to school safely and fairly.
Other industries are also struggling to find ways to start operating at pre-pandemic levels. The airline industry, one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, recently saw a test warrant for international flights, although the U.S. government is also evaluating test warrants for domestic flights. The airline industry, however, opposes the move, saying it unfairly places the burden of testing on airlines and will negatively affect their results.
In a letter to the White House COVID-19 response team consulted by Yahoo Finance, Boeing said it was the federal government’s responsibility to fund these tests.
But Michael Mina, testing expert and assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard University, said even current international testing requirements are fundamentally futile.
“The pre-flight test with three to five days before the flight… is not effective,” Mina told Yahoo Finance.
In fact, getting the results of these tests may not capture your current state of health, Mina said. That’s why he continued to push for quick and cheap antigen testing, rather than more laborious but precise PCR testing, to be done at the gate just before takeoff.
“The point is, we need the tests, if it’s going to be effective we have to be very close to the event,” Mina said.
More vaccine doses
The United States agreed to purchase a total of 200 million additional doses, 100 million each from Pfizer (PFE) and (MRNA), bringing the US total to 600 million doses from the two licensed companies alone.
While this helps cover the majority of the American population, it is not enough for everyone, as both vaccines require two doses. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is likely the next vaccine available to Americans, with clearance likely to arrive by the end of the month.
President Joe Biden announced plans to purchase additional doses on Jan. 26, and White House officials noted that the current batch of 200 million doses per company is expected to be distributed by the end of the second quarter.
Pfizer’s vaccine, developed with BioNTech (BNTX), is sold in the United States at the same price as the previously disclosed one – around $ 1.95 billion for 100 million doses.
Moderna did not disclose its pricing, but noted that the company has already delivered 41 million doses to date. Its commitment to the United States is almost double its commitment to the European Union. The federal government has committed up to $ 5.75 billion to date in the development, manufacture and purchase of the Moderna vaccine.
To date, more than 68 million doses have been shipped and more than 46 million have been given in first and second doses, according to the CDC.
Meanwhile, senior health officials are concerned about the growing spread of variants of the coronavirus. Variant B.1.1.7, from the United Kingdom, is becoming the dominant strain in the United States, with over 981 cases reported in 37 states. Fewer cases have been reported of the most worrying B.1.351 strain from South Africa and the P.1 strain from Brazil, but experts believe they are also spreading.
In an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Dr.Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and his colleagues at the National Institute of Health, stressed the need to control the pandemic even before the outbreak. to reinforce. strains appear that could make vaccines ineffective.
“It is not known whether changes in vaccine composition will be necessary to effectively control the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is prudent to be prepared. Some companies have indicated plans to make and test vaccines based on emerging variants, and such studies will provide important information about the potential for expanding the immune response, ”the authors wrote.
Dr Paul Offit, a senior vaccine expert and pediatrician at Pennsylvania Children’s Hospital (CHOP), said Thursday that the group of experts convened to develop a coordinated research strategy for therapeutics and vaccines s ‘was reunited due to concern over variants. .
“We actually thought we were done, but with the variations appearing, we’re getting together again,” Offit said in an interview with JAMA Thursday.
While the vaccines appear to withstand serious illness now, Offit is worried about September this year, when the weather will turn colder again and a new variant could emerge.
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