Covid-19 vaccine in the US news summary: 16 May 2021
Covid-19 vaccine latest news live | Sun 16 May 2021
Headlines
- Covid-19 vaccines have no impact on pregnancy, study finds
- US rollout tops 279 million doses
- US retailers lift mask restrictions
- Canada 'storage' vaccine decision questioned by experts
- New York starts subway vaccine drive
- CDC updates mask advice: not required if vaccinated in most places (full story)
- India cases drop for third day but WHO remains concerned
- Ohio lines up $1 million vaccine lottery
- Leading scientists cast more doubts over covid-19 origin (full story)
- China slams US for hoarding and hundreds of millions of vaccines
- Biden urges parents to vaccinate eligible kids
- Vaccines show less efficacy against India variant
- Over 121 million US citizens now fully vaccinated (track CDC data here)
- New recommendations from CDC for fully vaccinated individuals, read about them here
- Covid-19 vaccine passports apps: which ones can be used in the US? Learn more
- US covid-19: 32.94 million cases / 585,708 deaths (live updates from JHU)
Scroll through some of our related articles:
Rio's vaccine the redeemer
Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue was lit up with a message - 'Vaccine saves, United for vaccines’
Fully vaccinated NFL players, staff no longer required to wear masks at team facilities
Players and staff in the National Football League (NFL) who are fully vaccinated against covid-19 will no longer be required to wear masks at team facilities, the league said, in line with updated guidance from the U.S. health agency.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said fully vaccinated Americans do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places.
People are considered "fully vaccinated" if fourteen days have passed since their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or their single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the NFL said.
"Effective immediately, fully vaccinated ... staff and players will not be required to wear masks anywhere in the club facility, either indoors or outdoors," the NFL said in a statement.
CDC recommends US schools continue to use masks
Schools in the United States should continue to use masks for the 2020-2021 academic year as all students will not be fully vaccinated, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this weekend.
The CDC in its latest guidance said all kindergarten through grade 12 schools "should implement and layer prevention strategies and should prioritize universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing."
The recommendation comes after the agency on Thursday said fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places.
The CDC said masks should be worn at all times by all people in school facilities and buses, while maintaining a six foot distance between teachers and students.
CDC vaccine study backs vaccine efficacy
As reported by Forbes, Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines are almost 95% effective after two shots and over 80% effective after just one shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study of vaccinated healthcare workers released Friday, offering what the CDC calls “the most compelling evidence to date” vaccines work well enough that immunized people don’t need to wear masks.
People wait for their Covid-19 vaccine inside the International Conference Centre during Peel Region's 'Doses After Dark' overnight Covid-19 vaccination clinic in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on May 15, 2021.
Photo by Cole BURSTON / AFP
Where to get 12-15 year old kids vaccinated in California
According to the California Department of Public Health, there are around 2.1 million children in the 12-15 age group in the state eligible for a covid vaccine.
However, experts have warned a state mandate enforcing vaccination will be almost impossible to achieve due to public hesitation and political hurdles.
As yet, no state in the US has issued such a mandate as the country aims to get kids back into five-day-a-week, in-person classes for the new school year.
Sputnik light could provide response to Indian second wave
Russia's single-shot vaccine, dubbed Sputnik light after the development of the country's flagship shot, Sputnik V, is being touted as a possible answer to alleviate some of the vaccine shortages in India.
So far, India has fully vaccinated around 3% of it's almost 1.5 billion population. Health authorities are keen to speed up the rollout to stem the tide of a surge in cases and Russia appears to be ready to step in with Sputnik light.
China administers 392.99 million vaccines as of May 15
China carried out around 12.4 million vaccinations against covid-19 on May 15, bringing the total number of administered doses to 392.99 million, the country's National Health Commission said on Sunday.
The employment cost of vaccine refusal
As reported by Bloomberg, a number of companies in the US are obliging employees to get a vaccine or risk losing their jobs. Delta has said that all flight staff must be vaccinated to work on international routes while Amazon has offered incentives to new hires to get the jab. But what is the legal upshot of vaccine refusal? It's far from straightforward, as this report highlights.
India records more than 4,000 daily covid deaths
India reported a smaller rise in daily covid-19 cases for the third straight day on Sunday, but the number of deaths in 24 hours was higher than 4,000, taking the country's death toll to 270,000.
Deaths grew by 4,077, while infections rose by 311,170 - the smallest rise in daily cases in over three weeks, health ministry data showed on Sunday. Total infections have risen by over 2 million this week and deaths by nearly 28,000.
India's massive second wave of infections began in February, putting hospitals and medical workers under pressure. Cases have fallen steadily in states hit by an initial surge of infections, such as the richest state of Maharastra and the northern state of Delhi, after they imposed stringent lockdowns.
Federal health officials said on Saturday that the overall rate of positive cases per tests had dipped to 19.8% this week from 21.9% last week, sparking hopes that daily infections have begun to stabilise.
But surges have been seen in states such as Tamil Nadu in the south and rural areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called on officials to strengthen health care resources in rural areas and step up surveillance as the virus spreads rapidly in those areas after ravaging the cities.
The world's largest vaccine-producing nation has fully vaccinated just over 40.4 million, or only 2.9%, of its 1.35 billion population as of Sunday, according to data from the government's Co-WIN portal.
India will have 516 million doses of covid-19 vaccines by July, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.
Photo by Diptendu DUTTA / AFP
Covid-19 vaccine for tourists in New York: how much and where can people get it?
As well as its inventive initiative to get people vaccinated on their commute on the New York Subway system, the authorities in the Big Apple are also offering US tourists a free souvenir to take home with them, a jab of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson covid-19 vaccine at some of the Big Apple's most famous tourist sites.
US vaccination effort tops 270m doses
A new report from Reuters has confirmed that the United States has administered 270,832,342 doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Saturday morning. In total, a massive 344,503,395 doses of the life-saving shots has been distributed by health authorities across the country but some groups are proving reluctant to receive the vaccine.
Crucially, more than 156 million people had received at least one dose of a vaccine, while 121 million Americans are fully vaccinated against covid-19.
New York subway vaccination centres prove popular
As the national vaccine effort continues health authorities are trying creative ways to make getting the covid-19 vaccine as easy as possible, and appear to have struck upon a good one in New York. The city's subway system is the busiest in America with 1.6 billion annual passenger rides in a typical year, the perfect place for a pop-up vaccination centre.
Nsikan Akpan, PhD and health and science editor for WNYC, believes that this could be a particularly effective way to get the shots into people's arms, with over 1,000 doses administered in just the second day in operation.
Retailers lift mask rules for the fully vaccinated
Masks have become an unavoidable fact of life for much of the last year, but as the number of fully vaccinated Americans continues to rise some retailers are removing the mask rules for their stores. The likes of Costco, Starbucks, Trader Joe's and Walmart have confirmed that they will no longer require visitors who have received both doses of a vaccine to wear a mask.
The news comes shortly after the CDC advised that it may no longer be neccessary for vaccinated people to be masked in public spaces, citing the siginificant decrease in virus transfer amongst those who are immune.
Where to get 12-15 year old kids vaccinated in New York
The US is now moving to vaccinate younger ages, considered an important step for getting children back into schools safely. Biden has now asked states to make the vaccine available to younger adolescents immediately.
"Now that vaccine is authorized for ages 12 and up, and I encourage their parents to make sure they get the shot," the President said. "This is one more giant step on our fight against the pandemic."
The FDA authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for the 12-15 age group means an additional 17 million children will be eligible to receive a covid vaccine.
CDC recommends US schools continue to use masks
Schools in the United States should continue to use masks for the 2020-2021 academic year as all students will not be fully vaccinated, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Saturday.
The CDC in its latest guidance said all kindergarten through grade 12 schools "should implement and layer prevention strategies and should prioritize universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing."
The recommendation comes after the agency on Thursday said fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places.
The CDC said masks should be worn at all times by all people in school facilities and buses, while maintaining a six foot distance between teachers and students.
Earlier this month US regulators authorized Pfizer and BioNTech's covid-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12 years old.
Over 36% of US population now fully vaccinated
At the time of reporting, a total of 121,768,268 Americans have received both doses of the covid-19 vaccine. That represents 36.7% of the population.
156,217,367 people, or 47.1%, have received at least one dose.
Track US covid-19 rollout data via the CDC
Covid-19 vaccine news: welcome
Hello and welcome to our dedicated live blog for Sunday 16 May 2021.
Here we aim to keep you fully up to date with all the latest news and updates regarding the covid-19 pandemic and all aspects of the vaccine development and rollout across the United States and around the world.