The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines

About 70.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the United States, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The CDC reported that 70,454,064 total doses have been administered, about 75% of the 94,300,910 doses delivered. 

That’s about 2.2 million more administered doses reported since yesterday, for a seven-day average of nearly 1.6 million doses per day. 

More than 14% of the US population – more than 47 million people – have now received at least one dose of vaccine and nearly 7% of the population – about 22.6 million people – have been fully vaccinated with both shots, CDC data shows. 

Note: Data published by the CDC may be delayed, and doses may not have been given on the day reported. 

Nigeria expects to receive its first 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines next week from the global COVAX vaccine program, said Walter Kazadi Mulombo, the World Health Organization representative in Nigeria.

Mulombo on Friday added that Nigeria was expecting 14 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in total.

“WHO more recently supported the country to develop its vaccine deployment and vaccination plan for Covid-19," Mulombo told journalists in a virtual briefing. "It has been used to secure through the COVAX Facility close to 14 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and four million of which are expected next week."

The situation in Nigeria was so far much better than had been widely predicted early in the outbreak, said Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country with some 200 million people, has reported fewer than 1,900 Covid-19 deaths so far, according to government data.

The COVAX initiative is led jointly by WHO, Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and UNICEF, which is leading vaccine procurement and delivery operations. So far this week, the COVAX initiative has delivered vaccines to Ghana and Ivory Coast. 

Health Canada announced Friday it has authorized AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines for use.

The authorization of the AstraZeneca vaccine developed with Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India’s version of the AstraZeneca vaccine introduce the first viral vector-based Covid-19 vaccines, and the third and fourth authorized Covid-19 vaccines in Canada. 

The Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines are already authorized for use in Canada.

Health Canada received an application for authorization from AstraZeneca on Oct. 1 and Serum Institute of India on Jan. 23. The authorization of the Serum Institute of India’s vaccine depended on the clinical trial results’ comparability to that of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, said at a news conference Friday. 

Health Canada, which has been reviewing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine since Nov. 30, is expecting additional information from Janssen Pharmaceuticals, specifically on manufacturing, later today, she said.

“[An authorization of the J&J vaccine] can go quite quickly if that information is all in order,” Sharma responded when asked if an authorization from Health Canada will promptly follow the US Food and Drug Administration’s anticipated emergency use authorization. 

The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine, which was submitted for review on Jan. 29, is currently undergoing a Phase 3 clinical trial, Sharma said. Health Canada expects the results from the trial at the beginning of April.  

“We are expecting to reach a regulatory decision on these vaccines on a similar timeline to other international regulators, such as the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency,” Sharma said. “This is all very promising news.” 

Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine “checks nearly all the boxes” on a list of what’s needed in a coronavirus vaccine, Dr. Greg Poland, head of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, said Friday.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe and effective, and has the advantage of being a single-dose vaccine that has no special storage requirements, Poland told a meeting of vaccine advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration.

“The Janssen vaccine candidate checks nearly all the boxes.” 

The FDA’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) is meeting to discuss the vaccine and will vote later Friday on whether to recommend FDA emergency use authorization. The FDA almost always follows the committee’s recommendations.

“There are only three ways the pandemic can be controlled,” Poland told the committee. “First is a hard lockdown,” with universal masking and social distancing, he said. “Second, the virus mutates to be less transmissible,” he added – but noted that more transmissible variants are already emerging and spreading.

Third is vaccination. “Vaccines are our primary weapons in countering and controlling this threat,” Poland said.

He noted the vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen division was studied in multiple countries when the virus was spreading fast – and when new variants were circulating.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which, if authorized, would be the third to be OK’d for the US, provided 85% protection against severe disease and the need for hospitalized in advanced, Phase 3 clinical trials.

As the US continues its push to get its entire population vaccinated, mass vaccination sites are opening across the country.

CNN correspondent Adrienne Broaddus was on the ground at a mass vaccination center opened up in Chicago, answering your questions about the vaccine rollout.

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There is concern around a recent stall in the decline of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States — which appears now to be "leveling off," Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned during a White House briefing on Friday. 

"Over the last few weeks, cases and hospital admissions in the United States have been coming down since early January and deaths had been declining in the past week," Walensky said. "But the latest data suggest that these declines may be stalling, potentially leveling off at still a very high number. We at CDC consider this a very concerning shift in the trajectory."

The most recent seven-day average of cases — about 66,350 — is higher than the average reported on Wednesday, Walensky said, adding "it is important to remember where we are in the pandemic. Things are tenuous."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said during Friday's briefing that the United States "has to be careful" when it comes to the spread of disease. 

"The point that Dr. Walensky made is critical," Fauci said. "If we plateau at 70,000, we are at that very precarious position that we were right before the fall surge, where anything that could perturb that could give us another surge."

A recent increase in Covid-19 cases in the United States might be the "beginning effects" of the spread of coronavirus variants, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned during a White House briefing on Friday.

"Our estimates now indicate that B.1.1.7 accounts for approximately 10% of cases in the United States, up from 1% to 4% a few weeks ago and prevalence is even higher in certain areas of the country," Walensky added. "Earlier this week, new research came out about additional emerging variants in New York, the B.1.526 variant, and in California, the B.1.427 variant, that also appear to spread more easily and are contributing to a large fraction of current infections in those areas, adding urgency to the situation."

Walensky said that Covid-19 cases have been increasing for the past three days in the United States compared to the prior week. While deaths tend to fluctuate more than cases and hospital admissions, the most recent seven-day average — about 2,000 per day — is slightly higher than the average earlier in the week.

Overall, the number of new US Covid-19 cases is beginning to plateau after several weeks of sharp drops, even as hospitalizations and deaths continue to fall.

The White House on Friday announced the launch of two new federal Covid-19 vaccination sites — one in North Carolina and the other in Illinois.

"The goal is to launch vaccination sites that use processes and are in locations that promote equity, deploying the CDC's social vulnerability index," Slavitt said.

Slavitt added that the locations for the sites were based on data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency  in an effort to target those who are most vulnerable to Covid-19.

Since Jan. 20, the administration has supported the establishment or expansion of 441 community vaccination centers across 37 states, territories and Washington, DC, Slavitt said on Friday.

 "Over the past month, we've provided 171 sites with federal personnel. We've deployed nearly 3,500 total personnel nationwide to support vaccination operations," Slavitt said. "One hundred and seventy-seven sites have received federal funding and at the President's direction, FEMA is reimbursing 100% of costs for vaccination operations."

Slavitt added that President Biden is visiting a federally established community vaccination site today in Houston.

The current Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines seem to be safe and adverse events seem to be rare, according to a presentation at the US Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting Friday.

The number of reports of people having a reaction to the vaccine seem to be similar to what was reported during the clinical trials, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Tom Shimabukuro.

The CDC looked at reports of adverse reactions through Feb. 16. At that point, 55 million doses had been administered in the US.

There were just more than 100,000 reports of which 94% were considered “non-serious” and 6% met the regulatory definition of “serious.”

The reports were gathered in a passive surveillance system co-managed by the CDC and the FDA, called V-safe. The system can rapidly detect safety signals if there is a problem with any of the vaccines. 

“The reactogenicity profiles of the mRNA vaccines in V-safe are consistent with what was observed in the clinical trials,” Shimabukuro said. “Anaphylaxis does occur, though rarely, and there's no safety signals for any serious adverse events,” he added

He added anaphylaxis – a severe allergic reaction-- is also treatable. The CDC guidelines say that people who get the vaccine must stay on location to be observed for 15 to 30 minutes after receiving their shot, that way if they have breathing problems, trained medical personnel can quickly help.

The CDC will continue to monitor the safety of people who receive the vaccines.