Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the US plans to share 2.5 million doses of vaccines with Mexico and 1.5 million with Canada.
Tens of millions of doses of the vaccine have been stored at manufacturing sites in the US. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in dozens of countries, including Mexico and Canada, but the injection has not yet been approved by US drug regulators. Psaki said the doses that would be sent to the two countries would be a loan, with the US receiving vaccines in the future.
The deal could be finalized on Friday, CNN has learned. On Tuesday, the Mexican secretary of state said there could be an announcement by the end of the week.
The Biden administration has pledged to have enough vaccines for all Americans before sharing doses, and if this agreement comes into being, it would be the first time the US has been sharing vaccines directly with another country. It would also likely give a major boost to vaccination efforts in Canada and Mexico, which are struggling with the introduction of vaccines compared to the US.
Commenting on the pace of the rollout on Thursday, Biden said Americans still need to be vigilant to prevent the spread of the virus – cases are still on the rise in several states.
“This is a time of optimism, but not a time for relaxation,” warned Biden. “I need all of you to do your part. Wash your hands, keep your social distance, keep masking as recommended by the CDC, and get vaccinated when it’s your turn. ‘
According to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 115 million Americans have been vaccinated since the first Covid-19 injection was approved in December.
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The Human Cost of Covid premieres Saturdays from 9 p.m. – 10 p.m. ET. The documentary will be available on demand on CNN cable / satellite systems on Sunday. It will also be available on CNNgo platforms and CNN mobile apps.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWER.
Question: When can Americans return to normal life?
A: States continue to expand access to Covid-19 vaccines and roll back restrictions on companies and large gatherings, while America strives for a return to normalcy.
“We are neglecting the sheer number of people in the middle who need the vaccine, but may have some concerns or just don’t have time to take time off from work or seek childcare,” Dr. Leana Wen told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Thursday. “We need to make vaccination easy for those individuals and also really show the benefit of vaccination, get the message across that vaccines are the way back to pre-pandemic life.”
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TODAY
AstraZeneca vaccine is ‘safe and effective’
Much of Western Europe is now in the throes of a third wave of the virus. France on Thursday announced a limited Covid-19 lockdown for Paris and several other regions to combat the rising cases. And the pandemic “is moving east,” said Dr. Kluge, with infection rates and deaths in Central Europe, the Balkans and the Baltic states among the highest in the world.
As the death toll from Covid-19 in Brazil is on the rise, Bolsonaro says there is a ‘war’ against him
“Here it became a war against the president. It seems people are only dying from Covid,” Bolsonaro, who didn’t wear a mask, told supporters outside the presidential palace on Thursday. “The hospitals are 90% occupied. But we need to find out how much of Covid and how much of other diseases,” he said.
In the coastal city of Rio de Janeiro, intensive care units are 95% full. Fifteen other state capitals are also in danger of collapse, with an ICU occupancy of more than 90% – a deluge of hospital admissions accompanied by a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country. While Covid-19 cases are beginning to level off or decline in many countries, Brazil is reporting record daily numbers. More than 45,000 people have died in Brazil in the past month alone, and the country registered 90,303 new cases in one day on Wednesday.
Cubans embark on treacherous sea voyages as the economic crisis worsens
When Beatriz Jimenez closes her eyes, she sees her daughter Lisbethy and two young grandchildren – and they are still alive. Jimenez’s family left the small coastal town of Cabarién, on the north coast of Cuba, on March 4, aboard a packed smuggler’s boat.
Jimenez said her daughter Lisbethy made the trip because she had been separated from her husband in Florida for more than a year after the pandemic forced Cuba to cancel most international flights. Lisbethy had feared leaving her daughter Kenna Mariana, 6 years old, and Luis Nesto, 4, in Cuba and risked a lengthy divorce. According to the Cuban Foreign Ministry, their boat capsized in Bahamian waters. About 12 survivors and a dead body were found by a Royal Bahamian Defense ship, but Lisbethy and her children were not among them.
ON OUR RADAR
- Transplant surgeons from Northwestern Medicine in Illinois say they successfully performed one of the first known double lung transplants on a Covid-19 patient using organs from a donor who had previously tested positive for the virus.
- Researchers trying to show when and how the virus first emerged in China have calculated that it likely infected the first human being in October 2019 at the earliest. And their models showed something else: it almost never made it as a pandemic virus.
- The coronavirus spread on an international flight, in a hotel hallway and then to household contacts despite attempts to isolate and quarantine patients, New Zealand researchers reported Thursday.
- Covid-19 restrictions at Japan’s first Super Nintendo World include temperature controls, mandatory mask wearing, hand sanitizer throughout, social queuing distance, and rollercoaster signs asking riders not to yell.
- Officials in South Korean capital Seoul have flipped controversial plans to demand that all foreign workers undergo Covid-19 testing after facing criticism from diplomatic missions and international companies.
BEST ADVICE
Do you have more nightmares? You could be ‘quadreaming’
The phenomenon started to be noticed by doctors about a year ago, not long after lockdowns started around the world. Frontline workers were badly affected – a June 2020 survey of 100 Chinese nurses found that 45% suffered from nightmares, along with varying degrees of anxiety and depression. But nightmares have continued as quarantines and lockdowns continued, experts say. One reason: an increase in “night owls”.
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“There is even some evidence that social isolation and loneliness affect your susceptibility to viruses and the ability to respond to a vaccine.” – Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah