The latest on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration and a current board member at Pfizer, said on “Face the Nation” Sunday that he sees the Covid-19 vaccine supply in the US outstripping demand as soon as three weeks from now.

Gottlieb also said the US needs to get into the habit of surging Covid-19 resources into hotspots.

Gottlieb said the pandemic needs to be thought about differently. He spoke about planning for past pandemics, such as flu, saying surging resources into hotspots has always been contemplated.

“They never perceived that there was going to be a confluent national epidemic, but there were going to be localized outbreaks,” Gottlieb said. “That, in fact, is likely what we’re going to see going forward. We’re not going to see a confluent epidemic, but we’ll see these hotspots, so we need to get in the habit of trying to surge resources into those hotspots to put out those fires of spread.”

Hospitalizations across New York dropped to its lowest since Dec. 2, at 4,083, according to the governor’s office.

New York’s statewide positivity rate dipped just below 3% according to the governor’s news release, hitting 2.99%

New York City’s seven day average positivity rating dropped to its lowest since Dec. 1 – hitting 3.58%, the state said.

There were 53 confirmed deaths reported, the state said.

Ultimately 6,764 cases were added according to Sunday’s report.

Fewer than 1 in 28,000 people who receive a Covid-19 vaccine – less than 0.004% – have reported serious adverse reactions, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Vaccines Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

Health care providers are required to report to VAERS certain adverse events following Covid-19 vaccination, including serious adverse events such as hospitalization, life-threatening reactions or death, as well as any vaccine administration errors.

The latest data in the VAERS system includes reports processed as of April 2. About 102 million people had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, according to data reported by the US Centers for Disease Control by that date. But there were only 3,630 VAERS reports for serious adverse events for any of the three authorized Covid-19 vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – representing fewer than 36 in every 1 million people vaccinated.

Another 53,091 reports include less severe symptoms including soreness, headache and nausea. 

According to a disclaimer statement on the VAERS website, “vaccine providers are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem following vaccination to VAERS, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause.”

Also, reports may be “incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified” and may not fully represent problems associated with vaccines.

India has banned the export of anti-viral drug remdesivir and its active pharmaceutical ingredients following a rise in coronavirus cases, a statement from the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.

The ban would apply to Injection Remdesivir and Remdesivir Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) until the Covid-19 situation in the country improves, the health ministry statement said. 

As of Sunday, there are 1,108,087 active Covid-19 cases and they are steadily increasing, the ministry said, adding that this rise has led to a sudden spike in demand for the anti-viral drug remdesivir and its active pharmaceutical ingredients used in the treatment of coronavirus patients.

The ministry anticipates a potential for further increase in this demand in the coming days.

Currently, seven Indian companies produce the drug under a voluntary licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, USA. 

Los Angeles residents ages 16 and above are now eligible to sign up for a Covid-19 vaccination at one of 19 vaccination sites currently being run by the city, the Los Angeles mayor's office told CNN. 

Appointments can be made using the city's vaccine registration website, which was updated Saturday afternoon to reflect the expanded eligibility, however vaccinations for the week will not begin until Tuesday when the the city's vaccination locations reopen.

The mayor's office said it worked with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and used targeted text message alerts to encourage communities that have been hit the hardest by Covid-19 to make appointments on the updated website.

Some context: Everyone in California who is 16 and older will become eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations beginning Thursday, April 15, according to an announcement from California Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month. 

Nearly 40% of US Marines are declining Covid-19 vaccinations, according to data provided to CNN on Friday by the service, the first branch to disclose service-wide numbers on acceptance and declination.

As of Thursday, approximately 75,500 Marines have received vaccines, including fully vaccinated and partially vaccinated service men and women. About 48,000 Marines have chosen not to receive vaccines, for a declination rate of 38.9%.

CNN has reached out to the other services for acceptance and declination rates.

The corresponding acceptance rate for vaccinations among Marines -- 61.1% -- is not far off the military estimate of two-thirds, or about 66%.

Another 102,000 Marines have not yet been offered the vaccines. The total number of Marines includes active-duty, reserves and Individual Mobilization Augmentee Marines.

The declination rate at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, one of the prominent Marine Corps bases, was far higher, at 57%, according to another set of data provided to CNN. Of 26,400 Marines who have been offered vaccinations, 15,100 have chosen not to receive them, a number that includes both II Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Installation East -- Camp Lejeune. Another 11,500 active-duty Marines are scheduled to be offered the vaccines.

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