July 12 coronavirus news

John Avlon
Avlon: It's a self-inflicting tragedy in the making
03:28 - Source: CNN

What we covered here

  • A third of new Covid-19 cases in the US are coming from five hotspots, according to a CNN medical analyst: Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Nevada.
  • Much of the rising cases have been attributed to the now dominant Delta variant, which is believed to be more transmissible.
  • Pfizer will virtually brief US government officials today about the potential need for booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine, but Dr. Anthony Fauci says Americans don’t need to worry about an additional dose just yet. 

Our live coverage has ended for the day. Follow the latest on the pandemic here.

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No changes following briefing with Pfizer on booster shots

“Nothing has changed” following Monday’s briefing between Pfizer and federal health officials, according to a person present for the virtual meeting.

It was largely seen as a courtesy after the two sides disagreed on when a booster shot for the coronavirus vaccine might be needed, leading to rare pushback from the US Food and Drug Administration and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that fully vaccinated Americans don’t need a booster right now. 

Following the meeting, that guidance has not changed. They met for about an hour as Pfizer presented data. 

Separately, a US Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told CNN: “Health officials are routinely briefed by manufacturers and others on the latest data on COVID-19 vaccines, and today Pfizer offered to brief officials on their latest preliminary data. We appreciate the information they shared, and officials continue to engage in a science-based rigorous process to consider whether, when, or for whom a booster might be necessary.”

“As CDC and FDA said last week, this process takes into account laboratory data, clinical trial data, and cohort data – which can include data from specific pharmaceutical companies, but does not rely on those data exclusively. At this time, fully vaccinated Americans do not need a booster shot. The vaccines available now offer a very high degree of protection. The administration is prepared for booster doses if and when the science demonstrates that they are needed, and any recommendation by CDC and FDA would come after their thorough review process.”

The official added, “Officials will continue to review any new data as it becomes available and will keep the public informed.”

Pfizer says meeting with US public health officials was "productive"

Pfizer has called its meeting with US public health officials about the potential need for boosters “productive,” according to a new company statement.

“We had a productive meeting with U.S. public health officials on the elements of our research program and the preliminary booster data in our ongoing trials. Both Pfizer and the U.S. government share a sense of urgency in staying ahead of the virus that causes COVID-19, and we also agree that the scientific data will dictate next steps in the rigorous regulatory process that we always follow,” the statement said.

The meeting is seen as a courtesy, and federal guidance on boosters is not expected to change immediately following the meeting, a senior health official said. 

A Pfizer spokesperson told CNN last week that “We regularly discuss our entire research program with regulators and public health authorities in the U.S. and other countries around the world.”

Pfizer emphasized that it will be publishing “more definitive data in a peer-reviewed journal and continuing to work with regulatory authorities to ensure that our vaccine continues to offer the highest degree of protection possible,” according to Monday’s statement.

Pfizer briefing with federal health officials has ended

The briefing between Pfizer and federal health officials has now ended, according to a source familiar with the meeting. 

CNN reported earlier that Pfizer would virtually brief US government officials Monday evening regarding the potential need for booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine.

The meeting is seen as a courtesy, and federal guidance on boosters is not expected to change immediately following the meeting, a senior health official said.

Last week, Pfizer said it was seeing waning immunity among people who received its vaccine, and reiterated earlier statements saying people might need boosters in six months to a year. They did not provide any data to back that up.

Pfizer said it would seek emergency use authorization for a booster from the US Food and Drug Administration in August. Hours after that announcement, two federal agencies issued a rare joint statement saying that Americans do not yet need booster shots.

FDA updates label of J&J Covid-19 vaccine to warn of potential Guillain-Barre syndrome

The US Food and Drug Administration updated the label for Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine Monday, saying there may be an increased risk of a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barré Syndrome among people who have been recently vaccinated.

The FDA said it was not yet clear if the vaccine causes the condition, but noted an increase in reports of the sometimes paralyzing syndrome. 

“Today, the FDA is announcing revisions to the vaccine recipient and vaccination provider fact sheets for the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine to include information pertaining to an observed increased risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) following vaccination,” it said in a statement sent to CNN.

“Reports of adverse events following use of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine under emergency use authorization suggest an increased risk of Guillain-Barré syndrome during the 42 days following vaccination,” the updated label reads.

“Based on an analysis of Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting (VAERS) data, there have been 100 preliminary reports following vaccination with the Janssen vaccine after approximately 12.5 million doses administered,” the FDA said in the statement.

“Of these reports, 95 of them were serious and required hospitalization. There was one reported death. Each year in the United States, an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people develop GBS. Most people fully recover from the disorder,” the agency added.

“GBS has also been observed at an increased rate associated with certain vaccines, including certain seasonal influenza vaccines and a vaccine to prevent shingles. Although the available evidence suggests an association between the Janssen vaccine and increased risk of GBS, it is insufficient to establish a causal relationship. No similar signal has been identified with the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines.”

But it said the number of reports indicated there could be an increased risk of GBS with the Janssen vaccine.

“Additionally, the Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers notes that vaccine recipients should seek medical attention right away if they develop any of the following symptoms after receiving the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine: weakness or tingling sensations, especially in the legs or arms, that’s worsening and spreading to other parts of the body; difficulty walking; difficulty with facial movements, including speaking, chewing or swallowing; double vision or inability to move eyes; or difficulty with bladder control or bowel function,” the FDA said.

Israeli study shows Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine protects pregnant women

A medic prepares a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Maccabi Healthcare Services in Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 6.

A study done in Israel shows the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine protects pregnant women well from infection.

A head-to head comparison of about 7,500 pregnant women who had been vaccinated to 7,500 similar pregnant women who had not been vaccinated showed the vaccine reduced the risk of infection by about 78%, the team at Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

While that’s lower efficacy than reported for the general population, the researchers said, the statistics might be skewed because pregnant women in general have been taking more care to avoid infection.

“The benefit from the vaccine may be somewhat attenuated among this population compared with the general public because pregnant women were generally advised to take extra precautions during the pandemic and to maintain particular adherence to social distancing guidelines, regardless of vaccination status. Immunologic response may also be different among pregnant women compared with the general population,” they wrote.

But there are good reasons to vaccinate pregnant women, they said.

“During pregnancy, alterations in hormonal levels and immune system function may increase women’s vulnerability to viral infections. Although SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women is mostly asymptomatic or mild, it may result in severe complications, including admission to the intensive care unit and mechanical ventilation, particularly during the third trimester,” they wrote.

“Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections in women also have been linked to a greater likelihood of preterm delivery and fetal intrapartum distress.”

Harris issues urgent call for the unvaccinated to get their shots

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a vaccine mobilization event at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan, on July 12.

Vice President Kamala Harris hailed Detroit’s resilience during the pandemic and made an urgent call for the still hesitant to get vaccinations.

In working to convince vaccine skeptics, Harris said it was important not to appear judgmental: “Let’s not do this in a way where we judge anybody, not looking down on anybody,” she said.

Describing her own experience getting a second shot, she said, “I wasn’t feeling so well the second day,” but said it side-effects only lasted a few hours. 

“That’s part of it. A few hours. It could save your life,” she said.

Harris ended by appealing to people’s faith, saying, “I do believe the act of getting vaccinated is the very essence of what the Bible tells us when it says love thy neighbor.”

She also marked the “incredible” progress the country has made in getting vaccinated but said now is the time to build on that progress and get more people both in Detroit and across the country vaccinated. Last week, the Biden administration officially missed their July Fourth goal to get 70% of Americans partially vaccinated. Harris’ event today served as just one of the administration’s recent events looking to get more Americans to get shots in their arms.

“So, I’m here to say, thank you. Congratulations and we have more work to do,” she said.

Harris streamlined the initiatives Biden laid out last week to enable more Americans to get their vaccines, saying it boiled down to two parts: “bringing the facts” and more vaccines. Harris insisted that going door-to-door to provide information was necessary to reach people who were receiving bad information.

“Sadly there’s a lot of misinformation. Let’s know what it is and talk to our neighbors and say these are the facts,” she said of the strategy. “Let’s take it to the streets, take it to the people.”

Harris called the Delta variant “no joke” and noted that most hospitalizations and deaths are currently among people who haven’t been vaccinated.

It was a similar stance the speakers who came before Harris, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the Delta variant loomed large, and both framed their remarks around the need for more people to get vaccinated to not contract the highly contagious strain.

“Virtually every person who is in the hospital, sick with Covid-19, is unvaccinated,” Harris said. “The loss, the tragedy of that loss, literally every person who has died from Covid-19 that we recently seen was unvaccinated.”

J&J confirms it's talking to FDA about risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome with its Covid-19 vaccine

A member of the Philadelphia Fire Department prepares a dose of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site setup in Philadelphia on March 26.

Vaccine maker Johnson & Johnson confirmed Monday it’s talking to the US Food and Drug Administration about an increase risk of a rare neurological complication among people who received its single-dose Covid-19 vaccine.

“We have been in discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulators about rare cases of the neurological disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, that have been reported following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine,” the company said in a brief statement.

“The chance of having this occur is very low, and the rate of reported cases exceeds the background rate by a small degree,” it added.

“Any adverse event report about individuals receiving Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, as well as our own assessment of the report, is shared with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency and other appropriate health authorities. We strongly support raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of rare events to ensure they can be quickly identified and effectively treated.”

Earlier Monday, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson told CNN the agency and the FDA were looking at reports of more cases than expected of Guillain-Barre among people who got the shot.

Covid-19 case rates last week were about 3 times higher in states where less than 50% are vaccinated

Over the past week, states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents have reported an average Covid-19 case rate that is about a third of that in states that have fully vaccinated less than half of their residents, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The states that have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents reported an average of 2.8 new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people each day last week, compared to an average of about 7.8 cases per 100,000 people each day in states that have vaccinated less than half of their residents. 

In the United States overall, the average daily case rate was about 5.9 cases per 100,000 people over the past week, up 47% from the week before, according to JHU data. And 48% of the US population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. 

Only four states had more than a 10% decline in Covid-19 cases compared to last week. Among them were Maine and Rhode Island – both of which have fully vaccinated about 60% of their residents.

Vermont leads the nation with about 66% of its population fully vaccinated, and while case rates in the state have increased compared to last week, the state still had the lowest case rate in the country last week, with an average of less than 1 new case per 100,000 people each day. 

Meanwhile, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas are the only states to have fully vaccinated less than 35% of their residents. Average daily case rates in each of these states were among the 10 worst in the county last week, each of which increased at least 39% compared to last week. 

Teenagers should be able to get Covid-19 vaccines without parental permission, health policy experts say

Teenagers should be able to get coronavirus vaccines without their parents’ permission – especially if physicians back the decision, a team of health policy specialists argued Monday.

They said older teens, especially, may understand the benefits of vaccination at least as well – and sometimes better than – as their parents do and argued that vaccinating children protects both the children and the population at large.

“Children and adolescents have the capacity to understand and reason about low-risk and high-benefit health care interventions. State laws should therefore authorize minors to consent to COVID-19 vaccination without parental permission,” Larissa Morgan of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Jason Schwartz of Yale University and Dominic Sist of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania wrote in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

“In the context of vaccination, some older minors may possess a more accurate understanding of the risks and benefits of a vaccine than their hesitant guardians,” they wrote.

While coronavirus has not been hitting children and teens especially hard, more than 300 US children have died in the pandemic, the experts argued. Plus, they can be a reservoir for continued spread.

“Approximately one-third of confirmed COVID-19 cases in minors have been asymptomatic, creating an opportunity for minors to spread the virus unknowingly,” they wrote, adding, “The reduction of asymptomatic transmission is essential to slowing the spread of the virus, and growing evidence suggests that vaccination provides substantial public health benefits by decreasing transmission in addition to its direct, individual benefits.”

They suggested that healthy children under the age of 12 should still only be vaccinated with the permission of parents or guardians. “Children older than 9 years with underlying medical conditions for whom the vaccine could offer increased benefits, however, would be exempt from this general prohibition and, after an affirmative evaluation of their competency, may consent,” they wrote.

“Minors aged 12 to 14 years could consent to vaccination without parental approval with support and facilitation from their clinicians and other trusted adult figures. In such cases, clinicians should notify minors’ parents of their immunization unless notification might pose a risk to the minor,” they added.

“In such cases, weighing the risk of parental retribution or the loss of the therapeutic relationship against the risk of minors contracting the virus would require a careful case-by-case determination.”

Teens over the age of 15 should be able to give consent for vaccination with no approval needed, they said.

Few states currently authorize vaccination without parental consent, they noted. “In four states, minors can consent to immunizations for sexually transmitted infections, such as human papillomavirus and hepatitis B, without parental permission. In five states, minors are allowed to consent to any medical intervention, including vaccines.”

New Jersey has fully vaccinated more than 5 million residents, governor says

A member of the National Guard checks on people after they received a Covid-19 vaccine at the Atlantic County vaccination megasite in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on April 8.

Gov. Phil Murphy announced today that to date, more than 5 million New Jersey residents have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Speaking at a coronavirus press briefing on Monday afternoon, Murphy urged residents to continue getting vaccinated to protect themselves against the Delta variant.

“There are multiple of those populations of people who are listening to myths, listening to garbage,” Murphy said, addressing reluctant New Jersey residents. “They need to be called out. This thing works, and it’s safe, and they’ve got to get vaccinated.”

Murphy, accompanied by New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education Brian Bridges, also announced $30 million in federal support for the state’s institutions of higher education to help recover from the virus’ impact and aid the students most affected.

“We know that Covid-19 has exacerbated preexisting racial equity gaps,” said Bridges. “We owe it to students most negatively impacted – in particular, low income, minority, and underserved students … to ensure all students are supported.”

The money will go toward implementing best practices to increase college completion as well as address student food insecurity at 30 colleges across the state.

Vermont leads US with two-thirds of residents fully vaccinated against Covid-19, CDC data shows

Vermont currently leads the nation with two-thirds of residents fully vaccinated (66.5%), according to the latest data published Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, 20 states have fully vaccinated more than half of their residents: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, DC.

About 48% of the US population is fully vaccinated (159,499,224 people).

US health officials say they are investigating risk of rare nerve complication after Johnson & Johnson vaccine

A dose is drawn from a vial of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on March 6 in Thornton, Colorado.

Federal health officials are investigating the possibility that Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine might slightly raise the risk of a rare neurological complication known as Guillain-Barré syndrome, a spokesperson from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement to CNN on Monday.

But even if the vaccine does raise the risk, it’s still better to get vaccinated, the CDC stressed.

“CDC and FDA are monitoring reports of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) after receiving Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (J&J/Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine,” the spokesperson said.

“GBS is a neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness or in the most severe cases paralysis. Each year in the United States, an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people develop GBS; it is typically triggered by a respiratory or gastrointestinal infection. Most people fully recover from GBS.”

“Reports of GBS after receipt of the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) are rare, but do likely indicate a small possible risk of this side effect following this vaccine. Around 100 preliminary reports of GBS have been detected in VAERS after 12.8 million doses of J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine administered. These cases have largely been reported about two weeks after vaccination and mostly in males, many aged 50 years and older.”

The same pattern is not seen with the other two vaccines authorized in the United States, made by Moderna and Pfizer. The spokesperson said the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices would discuss the matter in an upcoming meeting.

“In the United States, nearly all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are now occurring in unvaccinated people. The risk of severe adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination remains rare. Everyone age 12 years and older is recommended to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” the statement added.

The CDC and FDA briefly paused use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine earlier this year because of a risk of a rare type of blood clotting complication, but they lifted the pause in April after determining the risk was low and the condition was treatable. The vaccine’s label was updated to warn about the risk.

The Washington Post reported on Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration is preparing to announce a new warning for the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus that links it to Guillain-Barré syndrome.

CNN has reached out to Johnson & Johnson and the FDA for comment.

France will make Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers

A nurse prepares a shot of BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine on June 29 at Republique square in Paris.

France will introduce mandatory Covid-19 vaccination for healthcare workers, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday evening in a televised address. 

The measure was announced in a bid to speed up the country’s vaccination campaign as the Delta variant takes hold in France.

“As I am speaking to you, our country is facing a resumption of the epidemic, which is impacting all our territories,” Macron said, partly because of “the appearance of the so-called Delta variant.”

But “we have a key asset, which changes everything compared to the previous waves: the vaccine,” Macron explained.

Healthcare workers, workers in care homes and people working in contact with fragile people will have to be vaccinated by Sept. 15, Macron announced. 

“We must aim to vaccinate all French people, because it is the only way to resume normal life,” Macron said.

Macron also encouraged the wider French population to get vaccinated, arguing that “we are a great nation, a nation of science, of the Enlightenments, of Pasteur, so, when science offers us the means to protect ourselves, we must use them, and have trust in reason and progress.” 

Macron said that the question of mandatory vaccination for the whole population may need to be considered but said he “chose trust, and solemnly calls on all unvaccinated citizen to go get vaccinated as quickly as possible.”

Some more context: Overall, more than 35 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine (53.1% of total population) and at least 27,385,182 are fully vaccinated (40.6% of the total population), according to numbers published by the national health agency on Sunday.

Pfizer will hold virtual briefing with federal health officials this evening

The briefing between Pfizer and federal health officials is scheduled to take place virtually at 5 p.m. ET, per two officials familiar with the schedule. 

CNN reported earlier that Pfizer will virtually brief US government officials Monday evening regarding the potential need for booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine. The meeting is seen as a courtesy, and federal guidance on boosters is not expected to change immediately following the meeting, a senior health official said.

Last week, Pfizer/BioNTech said they are seeing waning immunity among people who received their vaccine, and reiterated their expectations that people might need boosters in six months to a year. The company also said it would seek emergency use authorization for a booster from the US Food and Drug Administration in August. Hours after that announcement, two federal agencies issued a rare joint statement saying that Americans do not yet need booster shots.

WHO leaders ask wealthy countries to hold off on possible boosters until more are vaccinated globally

World Health Organization leaders asked wealthy countries on Monday to hold off on giving booster doses of coronavirus vaccines to their residents before people in other countries can even get their first doses.

“Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses before other countries have had supplies to vaccinate their health workers and most vulnerable,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing.

“Instead of Moderna and Pfizer prioritizing the supply of vaccines as boosters to countries whose populations have relatively high coverage, we need them to go all-out to channel supply to COVAX, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition task team, and low and middle income countries, which have very low vaccine coverage,” he said.

Tedros said vaccine access isn’t always a question of ability to pay, and many under-vaccinated countries are willing to pay for doses as long as they can get them. 

“When we say share, it’s not like giving it for free. I can bring you a long list of countries that are saying ‘We have money. Where can we buy the vaccines? Just give us the vaccines. We can pay for it,’” Tedros said.

“It’s becoming a two-tier system,” Tedros added. “That is dangerous. You have seen it, and everybody’s seeing it now — high income countries are starting to say, ‘We have managed to control it. It’s not our problem.’”

 Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director with the WHO Health Emergencies Program, agreed.

“We need to decide what our priority is, and what part of ‘this is a global crisis,’ are we not getting? This is still a global crisis,” Ryan told the briefing. “If we move on to other matters,” he said, “I think we will look back in anger, and we will look back and shame,” he added.

“There’s some people who want to have their cake and eat it, then they make some more cake, and they want to eat that as well.” 

WHO Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan said data do not yet support the use of booster vaccines or vaccine mixing, and that decisions about boosters should be led by research.

“It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start deciding when and who should be taking a second or a third or fourth dose,” she said. 

More on the possible boosters: Last week, Pfizer/BioNTech said they are seeing waning immunity among people who received their vaccine and said they are picking up efforts to develop a booster dose that will protect people from variants. But in an unusual move, two top federal agencies — the FDA and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — said Americans don’t need boosters yet and said it was not up to companies alone to decide when they might be needed.

Pfizer will virtually brief US government officials today about the potential need for booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine.

Pfizer is briefing the US on possible boosters, but the White House says there's no "disagreement, per se"

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House on July 12 in Washington, DC.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday would not say whether the administration expects to reach any clarity during an upcoming meeting with Pfizer officials over whether to recommend a Covid-19 booster shot. 

CNN previously reported that Pfizer will virtually brief US government officials Monday evening regarding the potential need for booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine, a company spokesperson and two administration officials confirmed. The meeting is seen as a courtesy, and federal guidance on boosters is not expected to change immediately following the meeting, a senior health official said.

“We don’t see it as a disagreement, per se. But we provide public health information and make determinations on a large swath of data, and that relates to booster shots as well,” Psaki told reporters during the briefing. “And some of that information that the FDA and the CDC look at – and this was in their statement last week – does include some private sector data, and that can be part of how they assess what recommendations will be, but it’s a much broader swath of information and data than that.”

Last week, Pfizer/BioNTech said they are seeing waning immunity among people who received their vaccine and reiterated their expectations that people might need boosters in six months to a year. The company also said it would seek emergency use authorization for a booster from the US Food and Drug Administration in August. But some experts have argued the data is showing boosters are not necessary yet.

“Now, data – we continue to analyze. Science evolves. And we have long said that we will reserve options, optionality, including how we’re purchasing doses of vaccines to ensure we have maximum optionality for our own – the American public. But any assessment would be made by the CDC and the FDA and we made clear last week that wasn’t a recommendation being made at this time,” she continued.

Psaki also said assessments may be made about specific swaths of the population, suggesting public health recommendations “may not be all or nothing.”

“If they make a conclusion that booster shots are recommended, we’ll provide that information publicly and based on a large range of data and information,” Psaki said, adding that recommendations are “not based on solely the information or data from one company.”

She would not say if any other companies making Covid-19 vaccines have raised the possibility of a booster shot with the administration.

England will lift most of its remaining restrictions next week, UK prime minister says

Pedestrians wear face masks while walking down a street in London, on July 4.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed most of the remaining coronavirus restrictions will be lifted in England on July 19.

Johnson said the “single most crucial thing is you get that jab” as he warned “this pandemic is not over” and said life will not simply revert back to how it was before Covid-19.

However, despite rising Covid-19 infections due to the Delta variant, Johnson said the government will stick to its plan to lift restrictions on social contact on July 19.

It will also remove its mask mandate but Johnson said “we expect people to wear a face covering in crowded and closed spaces,” such as on public transport.

He said the government will keep its “tough border policy” and test, trace and isolate system.

Delta variant threatens Europe’s reopening

People leave cafes and restaurants at midnight on July 10, at the start of the newly implemented curfew in Netherlands.

European leaders are renewing calls for citizens to get vaccinated and reimposing coronavirus restrictions as the more transmissible Delta variant takes hold in Europe.

“The currently observed and predicted continuing deterioration of the epidemiological situation in many countries is expected, given the rapid increase in the Delta variant,” the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) explained in its latest Covid-19 overview published on Friday.

In June, the ECDC warned the Delta variant would represent about 90% of Covid-19 cases in the European Union by the end of August and emphasized the importance to “progress with the vaccine rollout at a very high pace.”

Around Europe, some leaders are now reimposing measures to fight the pandemi:

  • The Netherlands has reimposed restrictions on nightclubs, music festivals and restaurants because the infection rate in the country “has increased much faster than expected since society reopened almost completely on 26 June,” partly because of the Delta variant, the government said in a press release on Friday. 
  • With cases rising in Portugal — 1,782 new cases reported on Monday — the country has also announced new measures, re-instating curfew in some high-risk areas and requiring tourists to show a negative test or a vaccination certificate to stay in hotels. Tests or certificates will also be required to sit indoors in restaurants on Friday evenings and at the weekend in Portugal.
  • Norway is delaying its reopening plan because “there is a risk that the Delta variant may cause a fourth wave,” the government said last Monday.
  • In France, the government is pushing for citizens to get vaccinated. According to French Health Minister Olivier Véran, the country is “about four weeks behind the UK” in terms of the epidemiological situation and is “at the beginning of what looks like a fourth wave.” While daily new cases have been averaging 3,000, the French government fears that numbers could reach 20,000 cases per day by beginning August because of the Delta variant, Véran said on Sunday in an interview with Radio J.
  • Mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers, which has been heavily debated in the country in the past few days could be on the table — a measure already in place in Italy

Meanwhile, in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce England will lift most of its final coronavirus restrictions next week— despite rising infections — due to the success of the country’s vaccination program. More than 87% of people have had a first dose and 66% have had two doses. The UK’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid said Monday the country could see 100,000 cases a day by the end of the summer due to the Delta variant but the government is confident the vaccine “wall” the country has built up will prevent a wave of deaths and the country’s healthcare system from being overwhelmed with hospitalizations.

The UK recorded 34,471 new cases and 6 deaths on Monday, according to the government’s dashboard.

AMC Theatres just had its busiest weekend since it closed theaters in March 2020 due to Covid-19

People walk by an AMC movie theater in Times Square on June 8, in New York City.

AMC Theatres says 3.2 million people visited their theaters globally over this past weekend, from Thursday through Sunday. AMC says it was the busiest weekend since its theaters closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic.

In a release, AMC says for the third time since Memorial Day weekend and the second time in two weeks, AMC set another record for “post-reopening weekend attendance in the United States and globally.”

The biggest movie theater chain in the world says the industry box office was led by Disney’s Black Widow starring Scarlett Johansson, which brought in an estimated $80 million in its North America opening this weekend. 

AMC says nine other movies also posted “meaningful ticket sales and helped give the industry its first $100 million plus domestic box office weekend since early 2020.”

Most unvaccinated people live in households with less than $50,000 in annual income, US Census survey shows

More than half of people in the United States who have not received a Covid-19 vaccine – more than 16 million people – live in a household with an annual income of less than $50,000, according to survey data from the US Census Bureau.

However, among those who have not yet been vaccinated, people who live in households with higher incomes were more likely to say that they “definitely” or “probably” will not get a Covid-19 vaccine, while those who live in households with lower incomes were more likely to say that they “definitely” or “probably” will get a Covid-19 vaccine.

Here’s the breakdown of those who have not yet been vaccinated:

  • Household income of less than $50,000
  • Definitely or probably WILL get a Covid-19 vaccine: 23% (about 3.8 million people)
  • Definitely or probably will NOT get a Covid-19 vaccine: 48% (about 7.8 million people)
  • Household income between $50,000 to less than $150,000
  • Definitely or probably WILL get a Covid-19 vaccine: 14% (about 1.7 million people)
  • Definitely or probably will NOT get a Covid-19 vaccine: 64% (about 8 million people)
  • Household income of $150,000 or more
  • Definitely or probably WILL get a Covid-19 vaccine: 13% (about 300,000 people)
  • Definitely or probably will NOT get a Covid-19 vaccine: 75% (about 1.7 million people)

Among those who have not been vaccinated, more than half cited concerns about possible side effects as a reason to not get vaccinated, according to the Census survey data. This was the most common reason for not getting a Covid-19 vaccine among all income brackets, but people living in households with higher incomes were more likely to say that they don’t trust the government or don’t believe they need a vaccine. Less than 2% of respondents in all income brackets said that they were concerned about the cost of the vaccine.

The latest data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey was collected between June 9 and 21.

Median US household income was $68,700 in 2019, the highest since 1967, according to inflation-adjusted data released by the Census Bureau last year. But remember: those gains were upended by the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in the steepest decline in employment on record. 

England to lift remaining Covid-19 restrictions on social contact on July 19, health secretary says

Policemen patrol near Tower Bridge as a bride is photographed on the bank of Thames river in London on Saturday, July 3. 

England will lift the remaining restrictions imposed on social contact because of the coronavirus pandemic on July 19, the UK’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced in Parliament on Monday.

This step comes despite Covid-19 cases doubling over the past 11 days, according to Javid. 

“To those who say why take this step now, I say: if not now, when?,” Javid told the House of Commons. “We simply cannot eradicate this virus, whether we like it or not coronavirus is not going away.”

He said the upcoming school summer holidays makes this the right time to lift restrictions before winter comes. He said that the vaccine “wall” means “we can withstand this summer wave.”

He called it the “most responsible decision we can make.”

Javid said the Delta variant is more transmissible, but two doses of vaccine appear to be effective against hospitalization.  

The health secretary said there could be 100,000 cases by the end of the summer, but the UK is on track to beat its vaccination targets. 

Pfizer will brief the US government on possible boosters shots tonight

As variants spread, experts and vaccine manufactures are weighing the possibility that the population could need boosters for their vaccines.

Pfizer will virtually brief US government officials this evening regarding the potential need for booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine, a company spokesperson and two administration officials confirmed to CNN.

Remember: The meeting is seen as a courtesy, and federal guidance on boosters is not expected to change immediately following the meeting, a senior health official said.

Some background: Last week, Pfizer/BioNTech reiterated its expectation that people may need boosters to its vaccine in six months to a year, citing waning immunity they are seeing among people who got it. The company also said it would seek emergency use authorization for a booster from the US Food and Drug Administration in August.

But some experts have argued the data is showing boosters are not necessary yet.

“Americans who have been fully vaccinated do not need a booster shot at this time,” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA said. “FDA, CDC, and NIH (the National Institutes of Health) are engaged in a science-based, rigorous process to consider whether or when a booster might be necessary.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci also disputed the need at this time.

“Given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot, a boost, superimposed upon the two doses you get with the mRNA (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccine) and the one dose you get with (Johnson & Johnson),” he told CNN on Sunday.

Fauci said that there are ongoing studies evaluating if and when the US will recommend booster shots.

Do fully vaccinated people need to wear masks because of this Delta strain?

Pedestrians wearing face masks pass along a street in Manhattan, New York on June 3.

Health experts have varying stances on this.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not changed its mask guidance since the highly contagious Delta variant was found in all 50 states and Washington, DC.

If you are fully vaccinated, you can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic,” the CDC says. “You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart” – except in places where masks are required, such as on public transportation or in some workplaces.

For those ages two and up who aren’t fully vaccinated, “you should wear a mask in indoor public places,” the CDC says. Masks are also a good idea for unvaccinated people in crowded outdoor settings or in close contact with other people who aren’t fully vaccinated — especially in areas where coronavirus is rapidly spreading.

States with below-average vaccination rates have, on average, almost triple the rate of new Covid-19 cases compared to states with above-average vaccination rates, according to recent data from Johns Hopkins University.

In places of high Covid-19 spread, people who are fully vaccinated should still take precautions, such as wearing masks, a World Health Organization official said.

“People need to continue to use masks consistently, being in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette – everything … even if you are vaccinated, when you have community transmission ongoing,” WHO Assistant Director-General Dr. Mariangela Simao said June 25.

And because the vaccines are highly effective but not perfect, some health experts said they would keep wearing masks in certain places despite being fully vaccinated.

“If you’re in a low-infection, high-vaccination area, you don’t need to be wearing a mask indoors if you’re fully vaccinated,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

But the Delta variant is surging in parts of the US, including southwest Missouri — where Covid-19 patients are filling up hospital beds and getting transferred to other hospitals.

“If I were in southwest Missouri right now, I’m fully vaccinated, but I would be wearing a mask indoors,” Jha said July 5.

Read more answers to your Covid-19 questions here.

Fauci calls the Delta variant "a real bad actor virus"

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with members of media at Abyssinian Baptist Church on June 6 in New York City. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called the Delta variant a “bad actor” and stressed the importance of getting more people in the US vaccinated Monday morning.

Fauci said the number of people in the country not vaccinated “really is the concern,” because the vaccines being used in the US do well against the Delta variant — particularly against severe disease that leads to the hospitalization 

He said there is a special concern about the areas that have a level of vaccination hovering around 30% or so.

“You’ve got to do much better than that,” he said, or else there could be “a considerable increase in the number of cases that are going to be localized to those areas with low vaccination rates.”

More than 99% of the US's Covid-19 deaths in June were among unvaccinated people, says Fauci 

More than 99% of US Covid-19 deaths in June were among unvaccinated people, Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week.

“It’s really sad and tragic that most all of these are avoidable and preventable,” added Fauci, who is Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci noted that no vaccine provides perfect protection for everyone. 

“Obviously there are going to be some people, because of the variability among people and their response to vaccine, that you’ll see some who are vaccinated and still get into trouble and get hospitalized and die,” he noted. “But the overwhelming proportion of people who get into trouble are the unvaccinated.”

Individual states are reporting similar data: On Friday, Virginia’s health department announced at least 99% of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have been among people who were not fully vaccinated. And on Thursday, North Carolina said 99% of all new cases since May are among people that are not fully vaccinated.

Daily pace of people in the US becoming fully vaccinated is down 84% since mid-April, CDC data shows

Deb Tibbetts, a registered nurse with the Franklin County Health Department, waits for patients at the temporary vaccination clinic at the Laurel Community Center near Cincinnati, Ohio, on Monday, June 7.

The daily pace of people becoming fully vaccinated has dropped 84% since the mid-April peak, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

An average of about 278,000 people became fully vaccinated each day over the past week, down from an average of nearly 1.8 million people – more than six times as many — on April 16. The daily pace is less than half of what it was even a month ago when an average of nearly 663,000 people were becoming fully vaccinated each day. 

The pace of new vaccinations has also had a steep drop off. CDC data shows that about 246,000 people initiated vaccination each day over the past week, down 88% from the April peak of nearly 2 million people per day and down 43% from a month ago. 

However, many under-vaccinated groups are better represented in recent vaccinations than they have been throughout the vaccination campaign overall. Black and Hispanic people have accounted for a larger share of vaccinations over the past two weeks than their overall share of vaccinations, as have adults under the age of 40. 

New pandemic-era air travel record set on Sunday

More Americans boarded commercial flights on Sunday than the busiest day of the July 4th holiday weekend. 

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2,198,635 people at airports across the country on Sunday – the most since Feb. 28, 2020.

Air travel continues to set pandemic-era records, even though international travel remains restricted and business travel is lagging. 

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told CBS’ “Face The Nation” that he expects business travel to start rebound this fall and next summer to be “the biggest year in history” for European travel.

“Leisure demand is more than 100% recovered, lots of pent up demand, demonstrates the human desire to reconnect, business demand is still off 60%, of course a lot of international borders are still closed, long haul markets, so we’re not back to 100%, but we’re certainly headed in the right direction,” Kirby said. 

These 5 states are reporting a third of new US Covid-19 cases

As the Delta variant rapidly spreads, US hotspots have seen cases climbing – and an expert warns a “surprising amount” of Covid-19 deaths could soon follow.

The US is averaging about 19,455 new cases over the last seven days, a 47% increase from the week prior, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And a third of those, CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said, come from five hotspots:

  • Florida
  • Louisiana
  • Arkansas
  • Missouri
  • Nevada

“In places like Missouri where ICUs are packed, you’re going to see a surprising amount of death,” Reiner said on Sunday.

At Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, 91% of ICU patients are on ventilators and many are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, Chief Administrative Officer Erik Frederick told CNN Saturday. That is especially concerning, he said, because at the peak last year there were only 40 to 50% of ICU patients on ventilators.

Typically, increases in Covid-19 death rates follow three to four weeks behind spikes in cases, Reiner said. It takes a week for patients to get sick enough to need hospitalization and then often another couple of weeks for the infection to become fatal.

“We will start to see an increase in mortality in this country,” Reiner said.

GO DEEPER

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Our dreams are changing as we emerge from the pandemic. Here’s how
10 things we learned about Covid travel this week
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GO DEEPER

The pandemic may be better, but it’s not over
Anxious as we transition out of the pandemic? That’s common and can be treated, experts say
Our dreams are changing as we emerge from the pandemic. Here’s how
10 things we learned about Covid travel this week
Here’s how to design drug trials to defeat the next pandemic