July 28, 2021 US coronavirus news

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, said on NPR’s Morning Edition Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccines don’t make people impervious to infection, but asking vaccinated people to again wear masks may not provide much “bang for our buck” to reduce transmission.

Given how transmissible the Delta variant is, there are probably people who are becoming mildly or asymptomatically infected even when vaccinated, he said. 

“I think at this point, where we are with this Delta wave, which is probably closer to the end than the beginning, and the fact that probably a very small percentage of the transmission is occurring among vaccinated people, I don’t know how prudent this and practical it is,” Gottlieb said of the new CDC guidance. 

The bottom line, he said, is that people who are vaccinated shouldn’t assume that they are completely protected, so if they’re around high-risk people, they should be mindful, and potentially wear a mask, and “certainly” get tested if they think they have Covid-19 symptoms. 

“I think in terms of telling everyone whose been vaccinated that they need to now start wearing a mask again, I think that’s going to be very little bang for our buck in terms of trying to reduce transmission right now in the context of this wave of infection,” he said. 

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN’s John Berman on New Day Wednesday that health passes for the fully vaccinated, such as those used in parts of Europe, “may very well be a path forward.”

“I think some communities are doing that and that may very well be the path forward,” Walensky said.

In a message to students and staff, Duke University leadership announced that due to the increase in Covid-19 cases in North Carolina, they would be issuing an indoor mask mandate to all people regardless of vaccination status.

The university will be requiring masks to be worn indoors in all its facilities, except for on-campus residence halls.

"Masks will not be required in on-campus residence halls where there is a significantly lower risk of exposure for high-risk individuals," the message said.

Duke said the mask mandate was being instituted because officials "have seen a steady rise in the number of cases on campus among unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals."

England will allow fully vaccinated travelers from the US and the EU to avoid quarantine from Aug. 2, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced Wednesday.

The changes will apply to fully vaccinated people with a US Food and Drug Administration) or European Medicines Agency vaccine, Shapps said, adding that travelers will "still need to do the usual pre-departure test before arrival and take a PCR test on day 2 of returning to the England."

"We're also able to confirm the restart of international cruises and flexible testing programmes to help key workers and drive our economic recovery," Shapps also said.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the CDC can push for vaccination in schools, but it can’t mandate it – that will have to be a local decision.

“We can provide this advice, but we can’t mandate it at the federal level,” she told CNN’s John Berman on New Day Wednesday. “Those are all jurisdictional discussions and jurisdictional mandates. We are hoping that our advice will lead to more and more jurisdictions leaning in to get more people vaccinated.” 

There are very few places in the country right now where enough people are vaccinated for children to not have to wear masks in school. 

“I can imagine a situation where a school system might have all of their teachers documented and vaccinated, all of their children in a high school documented as vaccinated and very little disease in the community,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have a lot of situations that are like that, but I could imagine a situation like that, and boy, do I hope we get there.”   

“If we have more and more people vaccinated, we will win in this race and the virus will be less transmitting and we will be able to lift some of these things," she added.

In its largest bilateral vaccine donation to date, the United States government announced on Monday that it would donate 5.7 million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to South Africa – with the first tranche of vaccines to arrive in Johannesburg over the weekend. 

The donations are part of the Biden-Harris pledge to donate 500 million vaccine doses globally, the statement read. 

South Africa has been one of the worst hit countries in Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic and is emerging from a dramatic third wave of the virus driven by the more transmissible Delta variant. On Sunday, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa eased some restrictions that had been in place for a several weeks to combat the rise in infections. 

The South African government had been criticized for its slow rollout of vaccines, but in recent days the vaccine drive has accelerated substantially. From Sept. 1 anyone over the age of 18 will be eligible for a jab. 

Earlier this month, two provinces in South Africa were hit by widespread looting and unrest that slowed vaccination efforts temporarily. 

“South Africans know they can count on the United States, as a friend and partner, to support their efforts to fight the pandemic and get their economy back on track,” said Haskell in the statement. 

A third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine can "strongly" boost protection against the Delta variant – beyond the protection afforded by the standard two doses, suggests new data released by Pfizer on Wednesday.

The data posted online, which are expected to be discussed in a company earnings call on Wednesday morning, suggest that antibody levels against the Delta variant in people ages 18 to 55 who receive a third dose of vaccine are greater than five-fold following a second dose.

Among people ages 65 to 85, the Pfizer data suggest that antibody levels against the Delta variant after receiving a third dose of vaccine are greater than 11-fold following a second dose.

The data also show that antibody levels are much higher after a third dose than a second dose against the original coronavirus variant and the Beta variant, first identified in South Africa.

Pfizer said in its quarterly earnings news release on Wednesday that it expects Covid-19 vaccine safety and immune data that could support emergency use authorization for children ages 5 to 11 by the end of September, and later for younger children.

The announcement appears to shift the company’s previously stated timeline around vaccines for younger children; the company had previously said it expected to seek emergency use authorization for its vaccine for children ages 2 to 11 in September.

The New York Times reported this week that Pfizer would expand vaccine trials in younger children after the US Food and Drug Administration found the trials were too small to detect rare side effects. Pfizer told CNN at the time it did not have an update on details for its trial in children; vaccine maker Moderna confirmed it would expand the size of its Covid-19 vaccine trial in younger children, and did not expect to seek emergency use authorization for the vaccine for children until later this early or early next year. 

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN’s John Berman on New Day Wednesday that masking is the safest way to get children back in schools. 

Children younger than 12 aren’t eligible to be vaccinated yet, and just 30% of 12- to 17-year-olds are vaccinated, Walensky said.

“The majority of people in our schools right now will be unvaccinated, just by virtue of the numbers,” she said. “And we felt it was really important to lean in and try and have our children back to school in the safest way possible, and that would mean masking.” 

Walensky also pointed out that although there is no evidence to suggest Delta is making children sicker, “it’s really important for people to understand that this is not a benign disease in kids compared to other diseases that our kids see.”