February 23 coronavirus news

New UK data shows that the first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine “provides high levels of protection against infection and symptomatic disease,” Public Health England (PHE) said in a news release on Monday.

PHE’s Siren Study, which was carried out on health care workers under the age of 65, found that one dose of the vaccine reduced the risk of infection by 72% after three weeks, while two vaccine doses reduced the risk of infection by 85%. 

This high level of protection extended to the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant first identified in the UK in December.

Health workers were tested for Covid-19 infection every two weeks using PCR tests and twice a week with lateral flow tests, explained Dr. Susan Hopkins, strategic response director at PHE, meaning “there was a lot of asymptomatic testing,” she said.

“Overall, we are seeing a really strong effect to reducing any infection: asymptomatic and symptomatic,” Hopkins said during a news conference held by the UK’s Science Media Centre on Monday.

PHE also analyzed routine testing data based on symptomatic disease in over 12,000 people, which showed that one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 57% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 four weeks after the first dose in those older than 80. This increased to 88% one week after the second dose.

Early data has also shown that vaccinated people who are subsequently infected are far less likely to die or be hospitalized with the virus. People over the age of 80 who were infected post vaccination were 41% less likely to be hospitalized with the virus and 57% less likely to die of it. 

PHE further predicted that protection against severe disease is likely to be over 75% in those who have received one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

“The good sign is overall we are beginning to see a decline in hospitalizations and deaths in those vaccinated age groups [and] at least some is attributable to the vaccination program,” Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of immunization at PHE, said during the press conference.

She said that while the UK’s current lockdown played a part in the decline in hospitalizations, she added that “the faster speed in decline can be attributed in some respects to the vaccination program.”

In the PHE release, Ramsay cautioned that despite the encouraging signs “we don’t yet know how much these vaccines will reduce the risk of you passing Covid-19 on to others,” adding that vaccinated people should continue to follow stay-at-home orders. 

The UK has placed its focus on vaccinating as many high-risk people as possible with the first dose.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was “extremely encouraging” that data supported the UK government’s “decision to maximize the number of people vaccinated with a single dose.”

According to New York state officials, 81 people who received vaccinations at the state-run vaccination site at Jones Beach will need to be revaccinated due to temperature fluctuations with the vaccine.

Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said less than a quarter of 1% of people vaccinated on that specific day were effected.

“This vaccine is very sensitive to temperature ranges – we knew exactly who it was, we contacted them, they will get revaccinated,” he said Monday.

Zucker said the ability to rectify the issue is a testament to the robust “checks and balances” system the state has.

Officials said nearly 1,400 people were vaccinated on the day the errant doses were administered.

Stockholm’s health authority recommended face coverings be worn on public transport at all times, as well as in some indoor public spaces where people are in close proximity for a long time, in an effort to reduce the rising spread of Covid-19 in the Swedish capital. 

The new recommendations will take effect immediately amid a 27% increase in Covid-19 cases in Stockholm in the last week and a 24% increase the week before, infection control doctor Maria Rotzén Östlund said at a news conference Tuesday.

Current compliance with wearing face coverings on public transport “is not high enough,” Östlund said, compelling her to change the recommendation to apply to all times of day – not just at rush hour, as the current guidance suggests.

She also urged residents not to travel unless necessary, ahead of the winter sports school break in Stockholm, which will begin next week.

Some GOP senators are staking out their positions on the minimum wage debate, with Sens. Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney proposing a $10 per hour federal minimum wage with mandatory requirements on businesses to ensure they're not hiring undocumented immigrants.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, who opposes the $15 minimum wage, told CNN last night that he would try to amend the Covid relief package to cap the wage hike to $11 per hour over two years.

The battle over raising the minimum wage, a longtime Democratic goal, was reignited last month when President Biden included it in his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009.

However, the measure has already run into resistance on Capitol Hill, including from some Democrats like Manchin, who favor a smaller hike.

Democratic leaders are fast-tracking the passage of Biden's pandemic relief package through a legislative process known as reconciliation, which only requires a majority of votes. However, the party could not afford to lose the support of any member, assuming no Republican senators vote for it.

Read more about the Romney-Cotton proposal here.

Based on new evidence, Italy has extended the age range it recommends receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from people ages 18-55 to those ages 18-65, according to the country’s health ministry.

A statement from the health ministry said Italy’s Superior Health Council declared today that the vaccine can be given in the age group between 18 and 65 years, “with the exception of extremely vulnerable subjects.” 

WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommend the AstraZeneca vaccine for all groups age 18 and above.

Italy’s decision follows early data on the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca shots in Scotland that said by the fourth week after the initial dose, the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of hospital admission from Covid-19 by up to 85%. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine reduced the risk of hospitalization by up to 94%. The study is the first to look at the two vaccines’ effect on preventing severe illness resulting in hospitalization across an entire country, with previous efficacy results coming from clinical trials.

Earlier this month, Italy said it would administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 55 years old, starting with school teachers, army and police forces, prison staff and inmates.

As all eyes are on whether the Senate parliamentarian will allow an increase in the minimum wage in the Senate’s Covid-19 relief package, Democrats are having discussions about alternative paths they could take to salvage their increase in the minimum wage.

Democrats are facing two potential hurdles. First, it’s possible the Senate parliamentarian could rule as soon as tonight against allowing the $15 minimum wage to be in the Senate Democrats’ bill. If that happens, Democrats’ options would likely be to try and pass the legislation as a standalone in the future with a 60-vote threshold, something that Republicans wouldn’t support.

If the $15 minimum wage is allowed to stay in the bill, however, it opens up other potential challenges for the party. While progressives have fought for months to include the provision in the package, it could cost Democrats the votes they need to pass it with just 51 votes. Already two members — Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin — have said they wouldn’t support that big of an increase in the minimum wage in the bill. Manchin, however, has expressed an openness to a smaller minimum wage. According to aides, Democrats are looking at whether it might be possible to lower the increase in the minimum wage to $11 or $12 an hour instead of $15. Another option being considered is to expand the phase in so that instead of getting to the $15 minimum wage in 5 years, nationally, it would take 10 years.

Again, the talks are just preliminary. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chair of the Budget Committee, is still committed to the full $15 amount.

The Senate Finance Committee is also eyeing a provision to give some of the smallest businesses tax credits to help curb the cost of the wage increase and incentivize businesses to increase their minimum wage, according to an aide familiar with the discussions.

Multiple aides warned that the discussions are still just ideas and all eyes are first on what the Senate’s parliamentarian would do. But, the minimum wage increase remains the key sticking point so Democrats are having some preliminary conversations about how the Covid-19 relief bill’s votes could be salvaged if necessary.

At least 98 countries and territories have administered more than 212 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, barely a year after the first Covid-19 case was reported in China.

Several different vaccines have been developed at record speed, in large part due to years of research on related viruses and billions of dollars in investment.

In December 2020, the first dose of a fully tested vaccine — manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech — was administered in the United Kingdom. Now, multiple vaccines have been authorized for use around the world and dozens of countries and territories have joined the race to vaccinate their residents.

CNN is tracking Covid-19 vaccines worldwide: click on the link below to find out more.

RELATED

Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide

The United States can expect to see a total of 240 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of March, according to prepared remarks drug companies will deliver to a House subcommittee today. The vaccine makers are set to testify at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Pfizer and Moderna – the two companies with Covid-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the United States – have pledged to make a combined total of 220 million doses available for shipment by the end of March. 

Meanwhile, the company Johnson & Johnson, which has yet to receive an emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine, has pledged to make 20 million doses available in the same time frame.

Each of the vaccine makers, along with the companies AstraZeneca and Novavax, provided prepared remarks ahead of a hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Tuesday. In the remarks, each company detailed the number of doses it plans to provide and when.

Pfizer noted in its remarks that it expects to increase the number of doses available for shipment from about 4 to 5 million doses per week at the beginning of February to more than 13 million doses per week by the middle of March. 

Moderna, the other company with an authorized Covid-19 vaccine, noted in its remarks that it is on track to meet a commitment to deliver 100 million doses by the end of March and it plans to double monthly deliveries by April to more than 40 million doses per month.

"Based on this progress scaling up manufacturing, we recently agreed to move up our delivery timeline: we now are aiming to deliver a second hundred million doses by the end of May and a third hundred million doses by the end of July," the company said in its remarks.

Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine is administered as a single dose, pledged in its remarks to deliver enough single-doses by the end of March to enable the vaccination of more than 20 million Americans, should its vaccine be authorized for emergency use.

Novavax said that it is prepared to deliver 110 million doses, which is included in its current agreements with the US government, by the third quarter of this year. AstraZeneca has noted that it has two agreements with the US government for 300 million doses.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he expects US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for fully vaccinated people will be coming soon.

Fauci said that the CDC wants “to make sure they sit down, talk about it, look at the data and then come out with a recommendation based on the science.” 

Common sense tells you that you don’t have to be as stringent with Covid-19 public health measures once fully vaccinated, he said, but he wants firm recommendations from the CDC, “which I believe will be coming soon.”

The CDC has said a fully vaccinated person does not have to do the recommended quarantine — 10 days without a test or seven days with a test — if they come into contact with someone who is known to be infected with the coronavirus, and he thinks more recommendations are coming. 

“I believe you’re going to be hearing more of the recommendations of how you can relax the stringency of some of the things, particularly when you’re dealing with something like your own personal family when people have been vaccinated,” Fauci told CNN.

When asked about a timeline, Fauci said that he speaks about this with the team every day — and as recently as last night. 

“I hope that we will be able to answer the logical questions that people are asking about that,” Fauci said Tuesday. “I agree, they’re questions that we need to answer pretty soon because more and more people are going to be vaccinated, every single day there’ll be more and more people and they’re going to be asking that question.” 

Watch: