The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines

Three more states have started allowing all or some teachers and school staff to receive the Covid-19 vaccine starting today, bringing the total to 31 states plus Washington, DC.

The additional states are Louisiana, Mississippi and Connecticut. Though some states have announced they are prioritizing teachers, vaccine availability remains a concern across the country. Several other states have announced they will open up vaccination appointments to educators later this month.

There are 19 states where teachers are still not eligible to receive the vaccine as a specific group — although some educators might fall into the current age group that state is vaccinating.

Here are the states where all or some teachers are eligible:

Here are the states where teachers are not yet eligible:

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she is “deeply concerned” about the potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic.

While the number of cases had been declining, the most recent seven-day average of new cases at about 67,200 people represents an increase of a little more than 2% compared to the prior seven days. The most recent seven-day average of deaths has also increased more than 2%.

Walensky said the country can stop the surge of cases in this country by wearing a mask that fits, maintaining social distance, practicing good hand hygiene and avoiding crowds.

“Please stay strong in your conviction,” Walensky said. “Continue wearing your well-fitting mask and taking the other public health prevention actions that we know work.”

WATCH:

Johnson & Johnson is currently working on a booster to help its Covid-19 vaccine deal with coronavirus variants, CEO Alex Gorsky told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Monday.

Johnson & Johnson's single-dose coronavirus vaccine has become the third Covid-19 shot approved for use in the US. Previously, Pfizer and Moderna's two-dose vaccines had been approved.

None of the three vaccines contains additives that can sometimes cause strong reactions, such as antibiotics, preservatives or adjuvants, which are compounds used to boost the immune response that can add to the kick of any vaccine.

That means a very low risk of allergic reaction, especially life-threatening anaphylaxis. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports only a few cases of anaphylaxis in people who have been given the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, and all were easily treated.

Only one case of anaphylaxis has been reported in the 44,000 people who have tested the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Plus, all three target a specific part of the spike protein called the receptor binding domain. As the name implies, it's the part the virus uses to grapple cells. Mutations to this particular region could weaken the efficacy of all three vaccines.

Luckily, all three appear to stimulate an overwhelming immune response — one much stronger than people get after a natural infection. So far, it appears to be enough to continue at least partially protecting people from the most concerning variants.

The European Commission has started laying the groundwork for a vaccine passport that could let European Union citizens travel this summer, it announced.

The Commission intends to publish a legislative proposal for vaccine certification by the end of March, Commission chief spokesperson Eric Mamer said.

In January, the European Union and its 27 member states agreed a set of guidelines that would form the basis of the passports, “but the exact information still needs to be determined,” he said.

To avoid discrimination and citizens being turned away at a border, the Commission’s intention is that the passports “would not only state whether or not a person had been vaccinated, but also whether this person has had recent PCR test, or can be deemed Covid immune, for health reasons i.e., antibodies,” Mamer added.

Asked whether the scope of the legal proposal would extend to international travelers traveling into the EU, Mamer said: “We will have to come back to you once the proposal is made, we cannot give details for the moment.” 

Expanding on the details of technical work currently underway to prepare the passports Johannes Bahrke, the EU’s Digital Economy spokesperson said, “It's a question of: how a certificate can be checked, because it's important that they are safe; and how the data is safe; what's the technical standard.”

Bahrke said, “all these kind of details now need to be agreed among member states based on the guidelines that are in place.” 

Speaking following a meeting of European Leaders last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it would be “at least three months” before the passports could be rolled out.

“Member states will need to move fast with the implementation if we want such a green certificate to be in place by summer,” von der Leyen said. “They will have to ensure a quick and complete rollout in the National Health System, and in the border systems."

With a strict, government-imposed lockdown in place, the United Kingdom has seen a continued decline in its Covid-19 cases over the last few weeks.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab attributes it to the lockdown and the “swift rollout of the vaccines.”

“Over 20 million people now have had their first dose, and that clearly is protecting people, having an impact on transmission. So, of course, there's a long way to go, but the signs, the progress is all positive, and we've got light at the end of the tunnel here,” he told CNN.

Although the country is set to reopen its schools on March 8, it will being back non-essential retail, such as hairdressers, gyms, museums, zoos and theme parks on April 12.

Raab said it’s important to stick to the roadmap, which he called optimistic but cautious.

He added: "We want to know that when we come out of this lock down, we stay out of it.”

Now that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in the US, the company will deliver 20 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in March and 100 million doses by June, said Dr. Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer.

“You can't accelerate it by yelling at it,” he said Monday. “You have to have the cells growing and the viruses extracted and put into vials, and that's what it is.”

Stoffels also confirmed that Johnson & Johnson is “evaluating when we need to have, eventually, a boost on the single dose, which might be six month, 12 months … to keep immunity up.”

 “A booster dose will be needed at a certain point. And so we started to study, with an interim of two months, to get to maximum protection and durability,” he said.

Watch the interview here:

Just three months ago, Finland had Europe's lowest average of Covid-19 infections and deaths per capita, and had managed to contain local outbreaks while sticking to some of the most relaxed restrictions on the continent.

But now it’s facing a new surge -- and the government has changed tack.

On Monday, Finland’s government declared a state of emergency due to a sharp rise in cases that they have attributed partially to the spread of new variants.

The country will go into a three-week lockdown on March 8, according to Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

In a statement, the government said:

The strictest restrictions were already introduced in seven hospital districts last Thursday, including in the capital, Helsinki.

Across the border in Norway, officials are also tightening restrictions due to a surge of cases in the capital that Oslo City Council called "a consequence of the import of mutated variants of the coronavirus."

"This means that we now have to tighten up infection control measures in line with the recommendations of national health authorities.

From Tuesday until March 15, the new measures in Oslo include: the closing of all restaurants, except for take-away services; and shuttering all stores, except pharmacies and grocery/liquor stores.

From Monday, Oslo students attending upper secondary schools will stay at home and on Wednesday, all schools will be run with a combination of traditional and virtual learning.

The council added that is introducing the mass testing of students with saliva samples from March 8, and the increased testing of all teachers.

While much of the world is starting to think about lifting their coronavirus restrictions, the Czech Republic has today entered a strict new lockdown. The Central European nation of 10 million has been experiencing near record levels of new infections and its death toll has just topped 20,000. 

There is no reason for the country to be among the worst hit. As a relatively wealthy nation and a member of the European Union, the Czech Republic has access to vaccines, medical equipment and track-and-trace tech solutions. It has a democratically elected government. Its health care system is well respected, its economy fairly strong.

Instead, the current Czech catastrophe is akin to death by a thousand cuts, a result of dozens of tiny missteps, late decisions and botched public health messages, experts tell CNN.

Read more here about what went wrong in a country that sailed through the pandemic’s first wave nearly unscathed.

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Analysis: How the Czech Republic slipped into a Covid disaster, one misstep at a time