By Helen Regan, Adam Renton, Florence Davey-Attlee, Ed Upright and Hira Humayun, CNN
From CNN's Melissa Alonso
Texas is the first state in the US to administer 1 million vaccines, Governor Greg Abbott said in a press release Thursday.
The state has now inoculated 1,043,624 people with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.
"The milestone comes exactly one month to the day after the first doses arrived at vaccine providers in the state on December 14," the release noted.
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
Next week, Ohio will start vaccinating members of the public who are 80 years old or older, Governor Mike DeWine (R) has announced. He also said the state hopes to lower the minimum age for vaccine availability by five years every week.
As of Thursday, 361,603 vaccines have been given in the state, he added.
Ohio has 750 provider locations across the state and approximately 100,000 vaccines, which will be available starting next week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, depending on delivery date, according to the governor.
“We don't have enough vaccines in Ohio right now, but we hope our allotment will increase in the future - but as of right now we must deal with this scarcity,” DeWine said.
On Friday, the state will launch a tool to allow Ohioans to see a list of providers offering the vaccine in their area. The state is also in the process of working on a state scheduling system, DeWine said.
From CNN's Cheri Mossburg
Despite indications that hospitalizations are beginning to level off in California, the number of available ICU beds has dropped to the lowest level recorded yet, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
There are currently 1,094 ICU beds available for California’s 40 million residents.
More than 22,000 people are hospitalized with the virus in the state, and nearly 5,000 of those are in intensive care units.
About 90% of the state’s residents remain under stay at home orders as state projections show ICU capacity and other factors will remain at critical levels for at least the next four weeks.
From CNN Health’s Maggie Fox
There’s not enough data to say whether an antiparasitic drug called ivermectin can help patients with coronavirus, the National Institutes of Health said Thursday.
A few doctors have heavily promoted the drug, but most mainstream medical professionals have been cautious about its use. Because there’s no cheap drug on the market specifically designed and approved to fight coronavirus, doctors have been trying out existing drugs.
There is reason to experiment with ivermectin, NIH said.
“Ivermectin has been shown to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture. However, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies suggest that ivermectin doses up to 100-fold higher than those approved for use in humans would be required to achieve the plasma concentrations necessary to duplicate the drug’s antiviral efficacy in vitro (in a test tube),” it said in a statement posted Thursday.
The drug "demonstrates potential anti-inflammatory properties in some in vitro studies, properties which have been postulated to be beneficial in the treatment of COVID-19," the statement also said.
But so far, no one has shown it helps actual patients.
“Results from adequately powered, well-designed, and well-conducted clinical trials are needed to provide more specific, evidence-based guidance on the role of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19,” it concluded.
From CNN’s Deidre McPhillips
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice credited a “practical” approach to vaccine rollout, as well as a break from the federal model, in his state’s success in administering vaccine doses.
He said that as of Monday, every vaccine dose the state received had been administered, or was assigned to be administered to an individual in the next day or so.
“We’ve absolutely not gone with the federal model,” Justice told CNN’s John King on Thursday. Instead of utilizing chain drug stores to administer the vaccine, the governor said they’ve relied on partnerships with local pharmacies as well as their state health department and national guard to get the job done.
West Virginia’s “practical approach” also prioritizes vaccinating older residents, through a program called Operation S.O.W., for “save our wisdom.”
West Virginia leads the nation in terms of first doses administered per capita, according to data published by the CDC on Thursday. More than 6,600 first doses have been administered per 100,000 residents – nearly double the national rate.
“It’s as simple as mud. If you can get shots in arms, you’re going to save lives,” Justice said. “We don’t need to sit around trying to develop systems or meeting with committees or whatever. We needed to act. We needed to move.”
From CNN's Sara O'Brien and Shannon Liao
Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery platform, said it will provide some financial assistance for its essential workers to ensure they can take time off work to get a vaccine for the coronavirus.
The company said Thursday that beginning February 1, it will have a “vaccine support stipend” of $25 available for in-store employees and its independent contractors who have been vaccinated. To be eligible, its independent shoppers must have shopped and delivered at least five batches for the company in the past 30 days.
“Our goal with the introduction of our new Vaccine Support Stipend is to ensure that, when the time comes, Instacart shoppers don’t have to choose between earning income as an essential service provider or getting vaccinated,” said Apoorva Mehta, founder and CEO of Instacart in a statement.
Read more here.
From CNN's Michael Nedelman
Just over 11 million people have received their first coronavirus shots, and more than 30 million doses of vaccine have been distributed, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
However, the US is still lagging far behind its target of having vaccinated 20 million people by the end of 2020.
The Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed announced changes Tuesday aimed at speeding up the vaccine administration process, including the release of more doses of vaccine and urging states to vaccinate anyone 65 and older, and younger people with chronic conditions that might make them more vulnerable to severe disease.
From CNN's Jomana Karadsheh, Kareem Khadder and Mohammed Tawfeeq
Jordan has started giving Covid-19 vaccines to refugees free of charge, making it one of the world’s first countries to start providing vaccinations to United Nations registered refugees, according to a UNHCR statement on Thursday.
"As part of the national COVID-19 vaccination plan which started this week, anyone living on Jordanian soil, including refugees and asylum seekers, is entitled to receive the vaccine free of charge," the United Nations Refugee Agency said in its statement.
Jordan is host to a large refugee population including Palestinians, Syrians and Iraqis. There are 1.3 million Syrians refugees in the Kingdom according to the government, with more than 655 thousand registered with the UNHCR.
Since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in the refugee camps, nearly 2,000 camp residents have tested positive for the virus.
The country received its first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine on Monday, two days after receiving their first batch of China’s Sinopharm vaccine.
From CNN's Barbara Wojazer in Paris
All of France will become subject to a curfew from 6pm to 6am for at least 15 days from Saturday, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced in a press conference on Thursday.
The measure "has proven to be effective,” he said. An 8pm curfew has been in place in the country since December 15th, and has already been extended to 6pm in some of the worst-hit areas.
The French government decided on an extended curfew to “avoid harsher measures" to stem the spread of coronavirus, Castex added.
However, “if we were to see a strong deterioration of the health situation in the coming days, we would decide on a new lockdown without any delay,” he warned.
The premier said that recent measures had been successful and that recent holiday celebrations had not led to an “epidemic flare-up”.
But while France's public health situation is “under control compared to our neighbors,” it remains “fragile,” particularly due to newly identified Covid-19 variants, Castex said.
French residents will only be allowed outdoors after 6pm for professional or urgent reasons and will need to show a certificate providing such a reason.
