Data on the South African coronavirus variant are “worrying” and current vaccines are less effective against it than the original virus or the UK variant, said Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday.
Fauci, speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, said that less is known about the South African variant than the British version, which proved to be more transmissible than the original version of the virus.
“But we know that (the South African variant) escapes the protection of some of the monoclonal antibodies and slightly decreases the vaccine’s ability and effectiveness to block it,” said Fauci. “It doesn’t eliminate it, but it decreases it several times.
Fauci said that “there is still a little protection” for current vaccines to provide some protection against it. He added that in South Africa, there were people who were infected with the original virus, recovered and were reinfected with the South African variant. This indicates that the previous infection does not protect anyone from reinfection with the South African variant, he said.
“The good news is that it looks like the vaccine is better than the natural infection to prevent you from being infected again,” said Fauci.
USA TODAY is following the news from COVID-19. Keep updating this page to get the latest updates. Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox and join our Facebook group.
In the headlines:
►A woman from Los Angeles County died minutes after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, local health officials said. Dr. Michael E. Morris, director of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California vaccination program, said in a statement that the woman, 78, “died unexpectedly” on Friday, hours after being vaccinated. The county’s Department of Public Health said his death appeared unrelated to the vaccine.
►New Zealand’s largest city was blocked for at least three days on Sunday and police set up checkpoints at eight locations on the Auckland border. The crackdown comes after three family members tested positive. The entire nation of about 5 million people has less than 50 known cases today.
►The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not currently recommend the mandatory COVID-19 test prior to domestic air travel, the CDC said in a statement to CNN on Saturday. Federal officials said this week that they were considering domestic testing requirements.
►China declined to provide raw data on the first cases of COVID-19 to a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the pandemic, one of the team’s investigators, Dominic Dwyer, told Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. The WHO chief said on Friday that all hypotheses about the origins of the coronavirus were still being investigated and analyzed after a team of investigators said earlier this week that the theory that the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan it would no longer be investigated.
► Health officials in the state of Florida reported that more than 10,000 residents and employees of long-term care institutions died of COVID-19.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 27.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 484,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: More than 108.6 million cases and 2.39 million deaths. More than 69 million doses of vaccines have been distributed in the United States and about 50.6 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re reading: People of color were the ones who suffered most from COVID-19. But now that the vaccine is here, they are much less likely to have received their first dose – for the same reasons. Read More.
New Orleans gets tough with Mardi Gras celebrations
New Orleans is cracking down on its annual pre-Lent Mardi Gras celebrations this week and health officials in other cities are warning aspiring revelers to do the same amid an increase in cases of coronavirus variants across the country. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell ordered the bars to close during the Mardi Gras weekend, which started Friday and runs through Tuesday. Parades are canceled and there are limits to gatherings.
Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the annual pre-Lenten festival celebrated over much of the Gulf coast. Last year’s revelry is believed to have contributed to an early rise that made Louisiana a hot spot for coronavirus.
COVID deaths, cases continue to decline
COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been slowly decreasing since a peak several weeks ago. The US is reporting an average of less than 100,000 new cases per day now. It is still more than a new case every second, but it is less than half the rate that the country reported in January.
But the number of known cases of coronavirus variants has increased in recent weeks. The vast majority are variant B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the United Kingdom and became rampant there. The CDC said it could become the dominant strain in the United States in March. Last month, UK researchers said there was evidence that the variant could be more deadly than others, and it is also considered to be at least 50% more transmissible than the original strain.
Biden offers message of hope on a challenging Valentine’s Day
For millions of Americans struggling with loneliness, separation from a partner or the loss of a loved one, Valentine’s Day can be particularly challenging this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, this coronavirus-era holiday also reminds us that, despite everything, relationships can withstand many difficulties – including a pandemic. Some couples have spent unprecedented time together in the past year. Others were forced to navigate long distance unexpectedly and with no end in sight. Many are stronger for that.
“There is hope. You just have to stay strong,” said President Joe Biden last week on the lawn of the White House, where the first lady raised large colored hearts. “Many people have suffered unbearable suffering, lost their families, lost their children, their husbands, wives, mother, father. And it’s almost unbearable. The only thing I can tell them is that they are still in their hearts.”
If you’re still planning to spread love, not germs, this year, take a look at these coronavirus-themed digital boyfriends and see where to get last-minute flowers here.
The FDA’s policy to allow unauthorized antibody testing was “flawed,” officials say
The US Food and Drug Administration’s policy of allowing companies to market their COVID-19 antibody tests without authorization was “flawed” and allowed ineffective products to flood the market, two FDA officials wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday. .
In March, the agency began allowing companies to market their antibody tests without FDA authorization for emergency use, as long as companies notified the agency and could show that the test worked.
“As a result, the market was flooded with serology tests, some of which underperformed and many of which were marketed in a manner that conflicted with FDA policy,” wrote Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the Device Center and FDA Radiological Health and Dr. Timothy Stenzel, director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnosis and Radiological Health.
Inexperienced or dubious companies have capitalized on the vacuum of FDA oversight, including one that sells vaporizer pens and one headed by a self-proclaimed technology evangelist, a USA TODAY investigation found last year.
“We realized that the policy outlined in our March 16 guidance was flawed,” said the authors. “Knowing what we know now, we would not have allowed serology tests to be marketed without FDA review and authorization, even within the limits we initially imposed.”
On February 1, 2021, the FDA removed lists of 225 tests from its website, issued 15 warning letters and placed 88 companies on import warnings for violations, the authors said.
– Grace Hauck
Massachusetts program to vaccinate people who accompany elderly people quickly ‘abused’
Some people in Massachusetts are offering rides and even money to take the chance to take advantage of a state rule that allows those accompanying people aged 75 and over to a coronavirus vaccination appointment to have the injection at the same time.
But the wave of online advertisements by people seeking to cut the vaccination line has drawn severe disapproval from Governor Charlie Baker, who has warned against offers of help from complete strangers. “If you are contacted by someone asking to be taken to a website, please report it to the authorities,” said Baker.
The elderly should accept help only from someone they trust, he said. Many senior centers in the state are offering help. Some officials have asked the Republican governor to suspend the vaccination program.
“While it may have been well-intentioned, it took less than 24 hours for this new state policy to be abused,” Councilwoman Andrea Campbell said in a statement.
Democratic state deputy Steve Owens said a group of lawmakers urged Baker to pause the program, noting that he saw an advertisement for someone offering $ 250 to drive an eligible resident to a vaccination facility.
– Associated Press
Oxford University testing vaccine on children
The University of Oxford plans to test its COVID-19 vaccine – which is being produced and distributed by AstraZeneca – on children for the first time, becoming the latest vaccine developer to assess whether its injection against the coronavirus is effective in young people.
The study announced on Saturday seeks to recruit 300 volunteers aged 6 to 17, with up to 240 receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and the remainder a meningitis control vaccine.
Andrew Pollard, lead researcher for the Oxford vaccine trial, says that while most children are not seriously ill with COVID-19, “it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people, as some children can benefit from vaccination. “
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: COVID news: Fauci; South Africa variant; Valentine’s Day; Carnival