| USA TODAY
California expects 1.1 million J&J vaccines in the next 3 weeks
Governor Gavin Newsom expects California to start administering the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine next week. He said the Biden government plans to send more than 1.1 million single-dose injections to California over the next three weeks. (February 26)
AP
The US is expected to authorize a third COVID-19 vaccine as early as Saturday.
An advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Friday to recommend the authorization of the Johnson & Johnson candidate vaccine for use in adults, paving the way for an expected authorization.
President Joe Biden called the single dose “the third safe and effective vaccine” in a speech on Friday. But as the United States continues to increase vaccines, Biden urged Americans not to lower their guards and to continue to practice mitigation measures.
“This is no time to relax,” said Biden. He added, “And for the love of God, wear your mask.”
Meanwhile, the House approved Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package early Saturday, a key step in a move that would provide millions of Americans with $ 1,400 stimulus payments, would increase distribution vaccines and extend unemployment benefits over the summer. The measure now goes to the Senate, where it faces a rocky path in the equally divided chamber.
Also in the news:
►The federal government has agreed to buy 100,000 doses of a COVID-19 treatment from Eli Lilly, the company announced on Friday. The drug, bamlanivimab, is a monoclonal antibody, which means that it mimics one of the natural antibodies that the immune system uses to fight the virus. The FDA authorized the drug last year.
►The federal government supported 441 community vaccination centers in the United States, including 171 with federal employees, said Andy Slavitt, the senior adviser to the White House for COVID-19’s response. Two new federal vaccination sites were also announced on Friday in Chicago and Greensboro, North Carolina.
►Côte d’Ivoire has become the second country in the world to receive a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the global COVAX initiative. The first shipment was sent to Ghana on Wednesday.
📈 Today’s numbers: The United States has more than 28.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and 510,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Global totals: More than 113.5 million cases and 2.5 million deaths. More than 94.3 million doses of vaccines have been distributed in the United States and about 70.4 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re reading: They met at Bumble. She claims he abused her and killed his dogs. Now she is demonstrating to help other survivors of domestic violence who feel isolated in the midst of COVID-19.
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United Center to be Chicago’s Mass Vaccination Site
The United Center, home to the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, will be used as a mass vaccination site capable of vaccinating up to 6,000 people a day. Vaccination will take place in the arena parking lot. (February 26)
AP
Six recent studies suggest that people who have already taken COVID-19 may not need a second dose of the vaccine.
The federal government has not changed its recommendation for a second dose, but studies that analyze the immune response show that while the first injection gives people who have recovered from COVID-19 a great boost, the second injection makes little difference.
“I think it makes perfect sense,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. For someone who took COVID-19, the first injection is like a naive person for COVID-19 receiving a booster – they even have the side effects of someone receiving a second dose of the vaccine, he said. Read More.
– Karen Weintraub
Vaccine Residue Claims, Theft Investigated in Tennessee
More investigative findings from the state of Tennessee revealed on Friday that the COVID-19 vaccine may have been stolen in Shelby County, children are believed to have been improperly vaccinated and more doses of COVID-19 were lost than previously thought previously.
The state learned of child vaccinations and the alleged theft weeks after the incidents, state health commissioner Lisa Piercey told a broad press conference on Friday afternoon, in which she detailed to reporters several cases of mismanagement of vaccines and called the Shelby County Health Department at a “low liability organization”.
Piercey also described Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and county health officials as slow to report problems to officials and lack of openness in conversations with state officials.
The revelations were the most recent in a series of vaccine management issues in Shelby County, which became public last week.
– Corinne S. Kennedy and Samuel Hardiman, Memphis Commercial Resource
Cases in nursing homes fall 89%
New federal data offers a glimpse of hope in what has been the darkest and deadliest corner of the pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes in America has dropped significantly since December, as millions of doses of vaccine have been injected into the arms of residents and employees.
The weekly rate of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes plummeted 89% from early December to the second week of February. In comparison, the case rate across the country has dropped 58% and remains higher than the figures reported before the end of October.
The dramatic drop in cases in nursing homes, where nearly 130,000 residents and employees have died since the virus emerged in the United States, heightens optimism for better days in nursing homes and communities in general, as more Americans are vaccinated, say experts.
– Ken Alltucker and Jayme Fraser
CDC director warns of rising ‘worrying’ cases
After a decline of several weeks in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warned on Friday of a “worrying” increase in cases in the past few days.
The most recent seven-day average of new daily cases was more than 66,000 and higher than the average on Wednesday, said Walensky citing data from the CDC.
The peak in early January was the highest seen in the pandemic and, while current averages are lowest, they are still high, said Walensky. “Things are tenuous. Now is not the time to relax restrictions, ”she said, pointing to the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.
“We may now be seeing the initial effects of these variants on the most recent data,” she added.
– Ryan Miller
The New York School Principal, who lost 11 family members to COVID-19, resigns
Richard Carranza, Chancellor of the New York City Schools, said on Friday that he was stepping down, citing the need for time to mourn his 11 family members and close friends who died of COVID-19.
“I feel like I can enjoy this time now because of the place we are in and the work we have done together,” he said.
The city’s schools were widely announced for their reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Carranza said the system was safely reopened to children of essential workers, distributed more than half a million electronic devices for remote learning and distributed 80 million meals for your students.
“We have stabilized the system in a way that nobody thought possible,” he added. “The light, my fellow New Yorkers, is really at the end of the tunnel.”
Carranza will be succeeded by the Executive Superintendent of the Bronx, Meisha Ross Porter, who will become the first black woman to lead the country’s largest school district.
– Ryan Miller