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California expects 1.1 million J&J vaccines in next 3 weeks
Governor Gavin Newsom expects California to start administering the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine next week. He said the Biden administration planned to send more than 1.1 million single-dose vaccines to California over the next three weeks. (February 26)
AP
The United States is expected to authorize a third COVID-19 vaccine as early as Saturday.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted unanimously on Friday to recommend authorization of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate for use in adults, paving the way for expected authorization.
President Joe Biden called the single-dose vaccine “the third safe and effective vaccine” in a speech on Friday. But as the United States continues to ramp up vaccinations, Biden urged Americans not to let their guard down and to continue practicing mitigation measures.
“Now is not the time to relax,” Biden said. He added, “And for God’s sake, wear your mask.”
Meanwhile, the House approved Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package early on Saturday, a key milestone for a measure that would provide millions of Americans with $ 1,400 in stimulus payments, speeding up recovery. distribution of vaccines and extend unemployment assistance throughout the summer. The measure now heads towards the Senate where it faces a rocky path into the evenly divided chamber.
Also in the news:
►The federal government has agreed to purchase 100,000 doses of a COVID-19 treatment from Eli Lilly, the company said on Friday. The drug, bamlanivimab, is a monoclonal antibody, which means that it mimics one of the natural antibodies that the immune system uses to fight the virus. The FDA cleared the drug late last year.
►The federal government has supported 441 community vaccination centers in the United States, including 171 federally staffed, said Andy Slavitt, White House senior adviser on COVID-19 response. Two new federal vaccination sites were also announced Friday, in Chicago and Greensboro, North Carolina.
► Côte d’Ivoire has become the second country in the world to receive a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX global initiative. The first shipment was sent to Ghana on Wednesday.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 28.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 510,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: over 113.5 million cases and 2.5 million deaths. More than 94.3 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed in the United States and about 70.4 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
📘 What we read: They met on Bumble. She claims he mistreated her and killed his dogs. Now she is speaking out to help other domestic violence survivors who feel isolated in the midst of COVID-19.
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United Center will be Chicago’s mass vaccination site
The United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, will be used as a mass vaccination site capable of vaccinating up to 6,000 people per day. The vaccinations will take place in the arena parking lot. (February 26)
AP
Six recent studies suggest that people who have already contracted COVID-19 may not need to receive a second dose of the vaccine.
The federal government has not changed its recommendation for a second dose, but studies examining the immune response show that if a first hit gives a huge boost to people who have recovered from COVID-19, the second hit does. little difference.
“I think that makes perfect sense,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. For someone who has had COVID-19, the first shot is like a COVID-19 naive person getting a booster – they even have the side effects of someone receiving a second dose of the vaccine, he said. . Read more.
– Karen Weintraub
Vaccine wastage allegations, theft investigated in Tennessee
Further findings from the state of Tennessee revealed on Friday that the COVID-19 vaccine could have been stolen in Shelby County, children were said to have been inappropriately vaccinated and more doses of COVID-19 were wasted than we didn’t think so before.
The state learned of the childhood immunizations and the alleged theft weeks after the incidents, state health commissioner Lisa Piercey told a broad Friday afternoon press conference in which she spoke detailed to reporters numerous cases of vaccine mismanagement and called Shelby County Health. Department a “low accountability organization”.
Piercey also described Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and county health officials as slow to report problems to authorities and lacking frankness in conversations with state officials.
The revelations were the latest in a series of vaccine management issues in Shelby County that were made public last week.
– Corinne S. Kennedy and Samuel Hardiman, Memphis commercial call
Nursing home cases drop 89%
The new federal data offers a glimmer of hope in what has been the darkest and deadliest corner of the pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in U.S. nursing homes has fallen dramatically since December, with millions of doses of the vaccine shot into the arms of residents and staff.
The weekly rate of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes fell 89% from early December to the second week of February. By comparison, the nationwide case rate has fallen 58% and remains above the figures reported before the end of October.
The dramatic drop in cases in nursing homes, where nearly 130,000 residents and staff have died since the virus first emerged in the United States, sparks optimism for brighter days ahead in nursing homes and in communities in general, as more Americans get vaccinated, experts say.
– Ken Alltucker and Jayme Fraser
CDC director warns of increase in cases
After a several-week drop in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Rochelle Walensky, on Friday warned of a “worrying” increase in cases in recent days.
The most recent seven-day average of daily new cases was over 66,000 and above Wednesday’s average, Walensky said citing CDC data.
The peak in early January was the highest in the pandemic, and although current averages are lower, they are still high, Walensky said. “Things are precarious. Now is not the time to ease restrictions,” she said, highlighting the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.
“We may now see the first effects of these variants in the most recent data,” she added.
– Ryan Miller
New York Schools Chancellor, who lost 11 family members to COVID-19, resigns
Richard Carranza, chancellor of schools for New York City, said on Friday he was stepping down, citing the need for time to mourn his 11 family members and close friends who died from COVID-19.
“I feel like I can take this time now because of the place we are in and the work we have done together,” he said.
Schools in the city have been widely advertised for its reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Carranza said the system has safely reopened for children of essential workers, distributed over half a million electronic devices. for distance learning and delivered 80 million meals to its students.
“We stabilized the system in a way that no one thought possible,” he added. “The light, my fellow New Yorkers, is really at the end of the tunnel.”
Carranza will be replaced by Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Ross Porter, who will become the first black woman to lead the nation’s largest school district.
– Ryan Miller
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