| USA TODAY
California expects 1.1 million J&J vaccines over the next three weeks
Government Gavin Newsom expects California to begin administering the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine next week. He said the Biden government wants to send more than 1.1 million of the single-dose shots to California in the next three weeks. (February 26)
AP
The US is expected to approve a third COVID-19 vaccine as soon as Saturday.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee unanimously voted Friday to recommend using Johnson & Johnson’s adult vaccine candidate, paving the way for an expected authorization.
President Joe Biden called the single-dose shot a “third, safe and effective vaccine” in a speech on Friday. But while the U.S. continues to increase vaccinations, Biden has urged Americans not to let their guards down and to take mitigation measures.
“This is not the time to relax,” Biden said. He added, “And wear your mask for God’s sake.”
Meanwhile, the House Biden’s $ 1.9 billion COVID-19 relief package approved early Saturday, an important step toward a measure that would provide millions of Americans with $ 1,400 incentive payments, increase vaccine distribution and extend summer unemployment benefits. The measure now goes to the Senate where it faces a rocky path in the evenly divided chamber.
Also in the news:
► The federal government has agreed to buy 100,000 doses of COVID-19 treatment through Eli Lilly, the company announced on Friday. The drug, bamlanivimab, is a monoclonal antibody, meaning it mimics one of the natural antibodies used by the immune system to fight the virus. The FDA approved the drug late last year.
►The federal government has supported 441 community vaccination centers in the US, including 171 staffed with federal staff, said Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House. Two new federal vaccination sites were also announced Friday in Chicago and Greensboro, North Carolina.
► Côte d’Ivoire has become the second country in the world to receive a consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from the global COVAX initiative. The first consignment was sent to Ghana on Wednesday.
📈 Today’s numbers: According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US has more than 28.4 million cases of coronavirus and 510,000 deaths. The global total: more than 113.5 million cases and 2.5 million deaths. According to the CDC, more than 94.3 million doses of vaccine have been distributed and approximately 70.4 million have been administered.
📘 What we read: They met on Bumble. She claims he abused her and killed her dogs. Now she is speaking out to help other survivors of domestic violence who feel isolated in the midst of COVID-19.
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United Center becomes the vaccination site in Chicago
The United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, will be used as a mass vaccination site that can vaccinate up to 6,000 people a day. Vaccinations will take place in the parking lot of the arena. (February 26)
AP
Six recent studies suggest that people who have already come down with COVID-19 may not need to receive a second dose of vaccine.
The federal government has not changed its recommendation for a second dose, but studies looking at the immune response show that although a first shot gives people recovering from COVID-19 a big boost, the second shot makes little difference .
“I think it makes perfect sense,” says Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Center for Vaccination for Vaccination at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. For someone who has had COVID-19, the first shot is like a COVID-19 naive person getting a booster – they even have the side effects of someone getting a second dose of vaccine, he said. Read more.
– Karen Weintraub
Allegations of vaccine waste, theft investigation in Tennessee
More investigative findings from the state of Tennessee on Friday revealed that COVID-19 vaccine may have been stolen in Shelby County, believe children have been improperly vaccinated and more doses of COVID-19 have been wasted than previously thought.
The state learned of the vaccinations against children and the alleged theft weeks after the incidents, State Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said at a wide-ranging press conference Friday afternoon in which she briefed reporters on numerous cases of poor vaccine management and Shelby County Health called. Department is an organization with a low liability.
Piercey also described Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and county health officials as slow to report the problems to authorities and that there was no openness in talks with state officials.
The revelations were the latest in a series of vaccine management issues in Shelby County announced last week.
– Corinne S. Kennedy and Samuel Hardiman, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Business in old age homes drops by 89%
New federal data offers a glimmer of hope in what was the darkest and deadliest corner of the pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases and deaths at U.S. nursing homes has dropped significantly since December, as millions of doses of vaccine have been shot into the arms of residents and staff.
The weekly rate of COVID-19 cases at nursing homes dropped by 89% from early December to the second week of February. In comparison, the countrywide business rate has fallen by 58% and remains higher than figures reported before the end of October.
The experts say the dramatic decline in cases at nursing homes, where nearly 130,000 residents and staff have died since the virus erupted in the U.S., is optimistic for the brighter days ahead at nursing homes and communities.
– Ken Alltucker and Jayme Fraser
CDC director warns of ‘increasing’ case increase
After a few weeks of decline in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, warned Friday of a “worrying” increase in cases in recent days.
The latest seven-day average of daily new cases was more than 66,000 and higher than the average Wednesday, Walensky said, citing CDC data.
The peak in early January was the highest seen in the pandemic, and although current averages are lower, it is still high, Walensky said. “Things are tough. This is not the time to relax restrictions,” she said, pointing to the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.
“We can now see the initial effects of these variants in the most recent data,” she added.
– Ryan Miller
NYC School Chancellor, who lost 11 family members to COVID-19, resigns
Richard Carranza, the chancellor for schools in New York, said Friday he is stepping down from his role and mentions that he needs time to mourn his 11 family members and good friends who died from COVID-19.
“I feel like I can take the time now because of where we are and the work we have done together,” he said.
The city’s schools were largely announced for its reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Carranza said the system was safely reopened to children of essential workers, distributing more than half a million electronic devices for distance education and 80 million meals to his students.
“We have stabilized the system in a way that no one possibly thought possible,” he added. “The light, my fellow New Yorkers, is truly at the end of the tunnel.”
Carranza is succeeded by Bronx executive superintendent Meisha Ross Porter, who will become the first black woman to lead the country’s largest school district.
– Ryan Miller