“The question that is in the balance right now is, will we have a fourth wave?” Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Wolf Blitzer for CNN on Thursday. “Every uncontrolled spread increases the risk that there will be dangerous variants that can be more infectious, more lethal or get rid of immune protection.”
A committee of the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday recommended that the Johnson & Johnson single-dose Covid-19 vaccine be authorized for emergency use, CNN reported. The FDA is expected to act quickly on the recommendation, which means the vaccine could be available early next week.
That’s because the number of vaccinations reported Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control was nearly 2.2 million more than a day earlier. The seven-day average of reported vaccinations was about 1.6 million on Friday. Now, 14.2% of the total US population has received at least one dose, according to the CDC.
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FDA Interim Commissioner Janet Woodcock and Dr. Peter Marks, who leads the FDA vaccine arm, said in a joint statement that the emergency use authorization will come soon.
“The agency has also notified our federal partners involved in the allocation and distribution of vaccines so that they can implement their vaccine distribution plans in a timely manner,” the statement said.
Andy Slavitt, chief adviser to the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said in a Twitter post that he expects the FDA to make the decision on authorizing emergency use on Saturday. “A third safe and effective vaccine is very welcome news,” Slavitt wrote on Twitter.
If the FDA authorizes emergency use of the vaccine, as expected, CDC advisers must meet Sunday to recommend to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky if people could receive the vaccine. Walensky will then give final approval. President Joe Biden said that if the vaccine is approved, it will be released immediately.
New cases and hospitalizations began to apply
The number of new cases began to apply after six consecutive weeks of decline. Although the fall has been accompanied by an increase in vaccine administration, experts say they are not the only cause of the low numbers.
Walensky expressed concern on Friday that cases and hospitalizations continue to decline.
“In recent weeks, cases and hospitalizations in the United States have declined since early January, and deaths have declined in the past week,” Walensky told the White House. “But the latest data suggests that these declines could stop, potentially leveling at a still very large number. We at the CDC consider this to be a very worrying change in trajectory.”
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The latest seven-day average of cases – about 66,350 – is higher than the average reported on Wednesday, Walensky said, adding: “It’s important to remember where we are in a pandemic. Things are fragile.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said the United States “must be careful” when it comes to the spread of disease.
“The point that Dr. Walensky has made is critical,” Fauci said. “If we reach the 70,000 plateau, we are in that very precarious position that we had just before the fall of the fall, where anything that could bother us could give us another wave.”
The FDA committee voted unanimously to recommend the J&J vaccine
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the only one of three Covid-19 vaccines to receive unanimous support from the FDA Advisory Committee.
“I think it’s a relatively easy call. It’s clearly over the bar and it’s nice to have a single-dose vaccine,” said committee member Dr. Eric Rubin after the vote. Rubin is editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and a professor at Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health.
Johnson & Johnson’s 3.9 million doses could add at least 25 percent more Covid-19 vaccination capacity to states, according to Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of Health and County Officials. Freeman said 14.5 million doses a week are currently allocated to states, tribes and territories, and 3.9 million are about 26.9% of them.
“About 2.8 million will go to state and local jurisdictions; 800,000 to the retail pharmacy program,” Freeman told CNN. She added that 70,000 will go to community immunization centers and 90,000 to federally qualified health centers.
States can begin ordering the vaccine as soon as Sunday, once the vaccine receives the final sign from the CDC, said Freeman, who saw the plans.
Some state governors are already reporting the number of doses of the new vaccine they expect to receive next week if authorized.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said his state expects to get 90,000 doses in addition to the 310,000 doses already allocated to Ohio next week.
California expects to receive 380,300 doses by next week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, while New Jersey could receive about 70,000 doses, according to Gov. Phil Murphy.
The vaccine is also easier to transport and store because it can be stored in refrigerators and is less delicate than the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which must be stored at lower temperatures than a regular freezer.
The existing Pfizer vaccine could also become easier to distribute quickly, due to the fact that the FDA agreed on Thursday to allow its transport and storage for up to two weeks at “conventional temperatures”, usually found in pharmaceutical freezers.
The company and its partner BioNTech are also responding to the growing threat of variants with new tests to see how well it protects a third dose against them.
States are easing restrictions on halls, stadiums and socializing
Despite caution about paying too much attention to downward trends in recent weeks, many states are easing their restrictions.
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Until Monday, hairdressing salons and salons in Wyoming, including hair, nail and tattoo salons, will no longer have capacity restrictions, Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement. In the coming month, the state will ease other health restrictions, including allowing buffets to resume operation and limiting meetings to 50 people instead of 25.
In response to the “sustained decline in the number of cases,” the city of New Orleans is also implementing changes. Starting on Friday, the city will increase the gathering limits to 75 people indoors and 150 outdoors, as well as increase the mass limits and increase the capacity limits of the indoor and outdoor stadium to 15% and 25%, respectively.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said Friday that gatherings of more than 250 people no longer need approval, and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol again Monday.
A particular point of contention was the reopening of schools: while some officials and parents believe there is an urgent need to bring students back to class, there are teachers who worry that it is too early and are not yet safe enough to open campuses.
Officials are expanding the eligibility and availability of the vaccine
As vaccine eligibility expands, more than half of all doses were for people 65 and older, including residents of long-term care facilities, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation published Friday.
Overall, about 41% of people aged 65 and over in the US received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, about three times the overall rate of 14%.
In some states, coverage among older adults is even higher, the analysis found.
Twenty-one states and Washington, DC, report vaccination data for people 65 and older. Four of them state that they have vaccinated a larger share of their residents than the national average: North Carolina (49%), Florida (45%), Arizona (44%) and South Carolina (44%).
Starting March 15, teachers and other essential workers in Missouri will be eligible for the vaccine, Gov. Mike Parson said Thursday.
In addition to educators and K-12 students, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday that adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers and parents of children with complex medical conditions will be eligible for vaccines on March 8.
And as of Thursday, all people over the age of 16 who have certain comorbidities are eligible for vaccines in Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox said.
Some states abandon eligibility levels and move to an age-only system. In Maine, people aged 60 and over will be able to be vaccinated starting next week, Gov. Janet Mills said Friday. Each month, a younger group will be eligible.
In Connecticut, people 55 and older can get the vaccine as early as Monday, Gov. Ned Lamont said earlier this week.
Two-dose photographs of Pfizer and Moderna were found to be approximately 95% effective against symptomatic COVID-19. The numbers in J & J’s study aren’t that big, but it’s not a comparison between apples and apples. One dose of J&J vaccine was 85% protection against the most severe COVID-19. After addition in moderate cases, the overall efficacy decreased to approximately 66%.
Importantly, the FDA reported this week that, like its predecessors, the J&J shot provides strong protection against the worst results, hospitalization and death.
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