Covid-19: Fauci Expects Decision on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine This Week – The New York Times

Heres what you need to know:Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, said he expected a panel to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of Johnson & Johnsons Covid-19 vaccine.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

A decision about whether to resume administering the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine should come this Friday, when an expert panel that is advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet, according to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert.

I think by that time were going to have a decision, Dr. Fauci said on Sunday on the CNN program State of the Union.

I dont want to get ahead of the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. and the advisory committee, he added, but said he expected experts to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of the vaccine.

Federal health agencies recommended putting injections of the vaccine on pause on Tuesday while they investigated whether it was linked to a rare blood-clotting disorder. All 50 states,Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have stopped administering the vaccine.

The unusual disorder includes blood clots in the brain combined with low levels of platelets, blood cells that typically promote clotting. The combination, which can cause clotting and bleeding at the same time, was initially documented in six women between the ages of 18 and 48 who had received the vaccine one to three weeks prior. One of the women died, and another was hospitalized in critical condition.

This pattern has prompted questions about whether vaccinations could resume in men or in older people. But because women fill more of the health care jobs for which vaccinations have been prioritized, it is not clear how much the problem might affect men, too. On Wednesday, two more cases of the clotting disorder were identified, including one in a man who had received the vaccine in a clinical trial.

About 131.2 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, or roughly half of all American adults, according to the C.D.C. More than seven million of those people have received Johnson & Johnsons shot. If there is a link between the vaccine and the clotting disorder, the risk remains extremely low, experts say.

Its an extraordinarily rare event, Dr. Fauci said on the ABC program This Week. The pause was intended to give experts time to gather more information and to warn physicians about the clotting disorder so that they can make more informed treatment decisions, said Dr. Fauci, who appeared on four TV news programs on Sunday morning.

European regulators have been investigating similar cases of the unusual clotting disorder in people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Some European countries have since stopped administering that vaccine altogether, while others have restricted its use in younger people.

Dr. Fauci also expressed frustration that a disturbingly large proportion of Republicans, who have been critical of many coronavirus restrictions, have expressed a reluctance to be vaccinated. Its almost paradoxical, he said. On the one hand they want to be relieved of the restrictions, but on the other hand, they dont want to get vaccinated. It just almost doesnt make any sense.

The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020.

Dr. Fauci said that he expected all high school students to become eligible for vaccination before school begins in the fall, with younger children eligible no later than the first quarter of 2022.

Michigan may finally be starting to turn a corner, after enduring more than a month of explosive coronavirus spread, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Sunday.

We are starting to see the beginning of what could be a slowdown, Ms. Whitmer said on the NBC program Meet the Press.

Michigan is still averaging more than 7,600 new cases a day, according to a New York Times database more than at almost any time during the holiday surge. But that figure hasnt increased by more than a few hundred for more than a week, suggesting that the current wave may be cresting. Hospitalizations and deaths, which usually lag behind new cases by several weeks, are still rising.

Governor Whitmer cited the states continuing mask mandates, capacity restrictions and her call for a voluntary two-week pause in indoor dining, youth sports and in-person schooling as factors that may have helped combat the surge. She defended her decision to not try to go further, with the kinds of closure and stay-at-home orders imposed early in the pandemic.

Fifteen months ago, we didnt know the virus could be contained by the simple act of wearing a mask, she said on Sunday. We didnt have the testing or the vaccines. Were now in a much different position.

The governor suggested that she probably could not have locked the state down again, in any case. In the waning months, I have been sued by my Legislature, I have lost in a Republican-controlled Supreme Court, and I dont have all of the exact same tools, she said.

Despite those things, we still have some of the strongest mitigation measures in the country, she added. Were still doing what we can.

Ms. Whitmer lauded the Biden administration for helping the state get more therapeutics and boots on the ground to help staff vaccination sites and hospitals. She said she had asked the federal government for even more help.

She said her states initial success in limiting the viruss spread had, paradoxically, made it more vulnerable to a later surge.

What we know is that our success at keeping Covid spread down for such a long period of time has left us with vast reservoirs of people who dont have antibodies, she said. That was a good thing until the variants came on stage.

She said that seasonal travel patterns, notably spring-break vacations and the return of snowbirds who spent the winter in warm states like Florida, had also played a role in seeding outbreaks in Michigan.

Health officials in Colorado are warning about another wave of infections as new coronavirus cases in the state jump to levels not seen since January and as counties start to loosen virus restrictions.

The state is reporting an average of 1,661 new cases a day, up by 18 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Hospitalizations have climbed by 19 percent in the same time period. Deaths from the virus, which tend to lag behind infections for several weeks, have slightly increased.

We are seeing what appears to be the beginning of a fourth wave of Covid-19 in Colorado, Scott Bookman, the states Covid-19 incident commander, said at a news briefing on Thursday. He urged people to remain vigilant about getting tested as more of the states population becomes vaccinated.

As in many parts of the country seeing caseloads rise, health officials say the increase has been fueled in part by the spread of more contagious variants of the virus, particularly the B.1.1.7 variant first found in Britain. That variant is estimated to be about 60 percent more contagious and 67 percent more deadly than the original version. B.1.1.7 is now the most common source of new coronavirus cases in the United States, and tracking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that variants of concern, including B.1.1.7 and a variant that emerged in California, CAL.20C, now make up more than half of all new coronavirus cases in Colorado.

Even as cases mount, the state on Friday ended its dial system that required counties to place capacity limits on restaurants, offices and gyms, depending on case counts, positive test percentages and hospitalizations in those areas. That change shifted control of pandemic regulations to local counties, prompting concerns from some public health experts that the move could result in cases and hospitalizations continuing to rise. Several counties experiencing an increase in cases and hospitalizations, like El Paso and Douglas Counties, have said they do not plan to impose restrictions beyond those mandated by the state.

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The state still requires counties to comply with its mask mandate which will stay in place through May 2 and with limits on indoor mass gatherings.

I am concerned that without policies and behaviors to slow transmission, said Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, we will continue to see increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations among those who are not yet vaccinated.

It worries me, Dr. Bill Burman, director of Denver Public Health, said about counties that were choosing to be more lax with restrictions. Denver eased some regulations on Friday but kept in place certain restrictions, like capacity limits on bars, offices and retail stores.

An analysis published this month and led by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health found that delaying policy changes, at the state or local level, until mid-May would prevent large numbers of deaths and hospitalizations. According to the report, mobility in the state is also reaching its highest levels since the start of the pandemic.

State officials defended the change last week, pointing to the relatively low number of hospitalizations and deaths compared with the peaks seen in December. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said at a news briefing on Tuesday that he was confident that counties could take on greater responsibility, but he urged people to remain cautious.

I think that the number of cases and hospitalizations will sadly continue to go up before it goes down, Mr. Polis said, adding that he hoped it would be a short peak as more people get vaccinated.

About 41 percent of the states population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 25 percent have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State officials said they would continue to monitor hospitalization levels. Under the governors public health order, the state could require counties to put in place additional restrictions if their resident hospitalizations threatened to exceed 85 percent of hospital capacity.

To some, Alaskas announcement that it would try to entice travelers by offering Covid-19 vaccinations at its airports might signal the states plucky resolve and determination to revive a tourism industry that has been devastated by the pandemic.

To others, its a sign of everything that is wrong with the way that the United States is distributing its vaccines, as calls for more doses in surge-stricken Michigan are rebuffed.

Its hard for me to believe that weve so maldistributed a vaccine as to make this necessary, said Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who was part of the effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. You dont want to exchange a bad carbon footprint for a vaccination.

Starting on June 1, any tourist traveling to Alaska will be able to receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at the Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan airports. Its part of a larger multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, funded by federal stimulus money, to attract tourists back to the state, Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, a Republican, announced.

We believe theres a real opportunity to get folks to come to Alaska again, Mr. Dunleavy said at a news conference on Friday.

Alaska is the latest state to announce plans to extend vaccine eligibility to nonresidents as production and distribution have increased around the country. Twenty-one other states do not have residency requirements for vaccination, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Some U.S. experts have worried for months about the growth in vaccine tourism Americans crossing state lines to get a vaccine where there are excess doses. Virologists like Dr. Brilliant say that rather than incentivizing people to fly to Alaska to get a shot from the states abundant vaccine supply, doses should be redistributed to states most in need and no longer be allocated strictly by population.

Alaska is not lacking vaccines, said Heidi Hedberg, the states director of public health. Health administrators will begin the airport vaccine program for tourists at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, with a five-day trial at the end of April to gauge interest. Some visitors may have to get their second dose of mRNA vaccines in their home states, depending on how long they remain in Alaska.

Almost 40 percent of Alaskans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to a New York Times database. Thirty-two percent of the states population is fully vaccinated. The state has used 68 percent of its doses.

Alaska was the first state to open up vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 or older living or working in the state, on March 9. At the time of the announcement, Alaska had the highest vaccination rate in the country.

The United States has continued to speed up vaccination efforts, and is now averaging 3.2 million doses a day, up from roughly two million a day in early March. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday that about 129.5 million people had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Brilliant said states like Michigan, the center of the countrys worst surge, should be receiving larger allocations of doses.

The Biden administration and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, have been at odds over her calls for an increase in her states vaccine supply. But the Biden administration held fast to distributing vaccines by state population, not by triage.

The vaccine should go where it will do the most good, Dr. Brilliant said. Given the scarcity of vaccine in the world, every dose should be given in a way that is most effective at stopping this pandemic.

But the issue could be moot by the time that Alaskas tourist vaccination program begins in earnest on June 1: most Americans who want to be vaccinated might already have received at least one dose by then, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Were going to reach a point where people dont need to fly to Alaska to get vaccinated, he said. I think its going to be more of the case that, heres an opportunity to visit Alaska and its convenient to get vaccinated.

French authorities will tightly restrict who can travel to France from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, and will impose a 10-day quarantine on those who do, in the hope of staving off worrisome coronavirus variants circulating in those countries, the government announced on Saturday.

The announcement adds to a shifting patchwork of international restrictions that have complicated travel around the world.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced late on Saturday that, starting April 24, travelers arriving from any of the four countries will have to quarantine for 10 days. Police officers will check on them to ensure that they comply.

Entry from the four countries will be limited almost exclusively to French citizens and their families, citizens of other European Union countries, and foreigners with permanent homes in France. Travelers must have tested negative for the virus within a shorter time before takeoff, and will be given antigenic tests on arrival.

These are the countries that are most dangerous, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Frances foreign minister, told France 3 television on Sunday.

Nearly all flights between France and Brazil will remain suspended at least until the new rules take effect and possibly longer, the government said.

The tightened restrictions were necessary because of the uncontrolled spread of the virus in certain countries, including widespread transmission of virus variants like those first identified in Brazil and South Africa that appear to be more resistant to some current Covid-19 vaccines, Mr. Castex said in his statement.

Frances decision adds to a complex tangle of rules and policies about international travel that can vary widely from country to country and month to month.

Germany loosened some of its travel restrictions last week, removing Britain, Ireland, Finland and Barbados from its list of at-risk areas, meaning that travelers from those countries no longer need to quarantine upon arrival.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia said that his country was in no hurry to reopen its borders, which have largely been closed to anyone other than returning Australian citizens.

I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country, which is so different to the rest of the world today, Mr. Morrison told reporters on Sunday.

Unlike the many European countries that have kept restaurants closed, travel restricted and face masks mandatory to combat a new wave of infections, Australia has its coronavirus epidemic largely under control and residents are mostly free to travel domestically and dine out.

More people are flying every day, as Covid restrictions ease and vaccinations accelerate. But dangerous variants have led to new outbreaks, raising fears of a deadly prolonging of the pandemic.

To understand how safe it is to fly now, The Times enlisted researchers to simulate how air particles flow within the cabin of an airplane, and how potential viral elements may pose a risk.

For instance, when a passenger sneezes, air blown from the sides pushes particles toward the aisle, where they combine with air from the opposite row. Not all particles are the same size, and most dont contain infectious viral matter. But if passengers nearby werent wearing masks, even briefly to eat a snack, the sneezed air could increase their chances of inhaling viral particles.

How air flows in planes is not the only part of the safety equation, according to infectious-disease experts. The potential for exposure may be just as high, if not higher, when people are in the terminal, sitting in airport restaurants and bars or going through the security line.

The challenge isnt just on a plane, said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist specializing in infection prevention. Consider the airport and the whole journey.

The National Institutes of Health is investing $33 million in research projects run by institutions around the United States that could help officials safely reopen schools serving vulnerable students and under-resourced rural, urban and Native American communities.

The projects focus on expanding coronavirus testing for children of color, children from low-income families and children with developmental disabilities or complex medical conditions. The projects are part of an N.I.H. program called Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations, or RADx-UP, and include initiatives among Native American communities.

Establishing frequent Covid-19 testing protocols for schools in vulnerable and underserved communities is essential to the safe-return-to-school effort, and these projects will inform decision makers on the best strategies to accomplish this, Dr. Eliseo J. Prez-Stable, director of N.I.H.s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and co-chair of the RADx-UP program, said in the announcement on Thursday.

Although remote schooling has been a challenge for many families, certain vulnerable populations have faced additional obstacles. Low-income families, for instance, may not have access to computers or high-speed internet connections, while children with developmental disabilities may miss out on speech therapy, occupational therapy and other services that are typically tied to in-person schooling.

The new research projects encompass a wide variety of schools, ranging in size from 50 to 3,500 students.

One study, led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, will survey parents of children with disabilities to identify the best communication strategies for promoting in-person learning and examine ways to increase participation in a weekly coronavirus testing program. Another will assess the feasibility of at-home and school-based coronavirus testing programs for children with complex medical needs.

A project based at Duke University will explore whether rapid coronavirus tests can reduce the spread of the virus in schools and help build trust with Black and Latino families, encouraging them to send their children back into the classroom.

The RADx-UP program plans to distribute more funding, and expand its efforts to more locations, in the months ahead, the N.I.H. said.

JERUSALEM Buoyed by its recent success in combating the coronavirus, Israel lifted its outdoor mask mandate on Sunday, while schools fully reopened for the first time since September.

The country has been taking rapid steps back to normalcy in the wake of its world-leading vaccination campaign and plummeting infection rates. About 56 percent of the Israeli population has been fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times database.

Finally, I can breathe again! Eli Bliach, 35, an entrepreneur, said while walking mask-free in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday morning.

With the sun out and temperatures rising, some people joked about avoiding mask tan lines.

But other Israelis were hesitant to remove the layer of protection that had felt so alien at first, but that many have since gotten used to.

I am not confident that the pandemic is over, said Ilana Danino, 59, a cosmetician and caregiver who was still wearing a mask while walking down an almost empty street in the city center. It is still out there all over the world.

Besides, she said, I feel good with this on, gesturing to the air around her and explaining that springtime could still bring allergies and the spread of other viruses.

Israels health minister, Yuli Edelstein, urged people to continue carrying masks with them for entry into indoor public spaces, where they are still required.

Daily new coronavirus infections in Israel have fallen from a peak of 10,000 in January to around 100 on some recent days. Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science said on Twitter last week that with 85 percent of people 16 and older in Israel either vaccinated or recovered from the virus, Life is close to pre-Covid.

As part of the transition, Israel has introduced a green pass system allowing people who are vaccinated or recovered to dine indoors in restaurants, stay in hotels and attend large cultural, sports and religious gatherings.

But there is some new concern after several cases of a virus variant with a double mutation first detected in India, B.1.617, were identified in Israel last week. Prof. Nachman Ash, Israels coronavirus czar, told the Hebrew news site Ynet on Sunday that the variant might have some characteristics that could make those who have been vaccinated vulnerable to infection.

Israel is working to prevent any further entry of the variant, he said, while trying to learn more about it and how it is behaving in other parts of the world.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced on Saturday that New Yorkers who are 50 or older could now walk in and receive the coronavirus vaccine at more than 30 city-operated sites.

No appointment necessary, the mayor said on Twitter. One person accompanying the over-50 walk-in candidate can also receive the shot. Mr. de Blasios aim is to fully vaccinate five million of the citys eight million residents by June.

Before Saturday, the city allowed walk-in vaccinations only for people 75 and over.

The city listed 31 locations across the five boroughs where walk-ins would be accepted, including three that usually operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Brooklyn Army Terminal, Bathgate Contract Postal Station in the Bronx and Citi Field in Queens. That list of locations will be updated weekly.

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Covid-19: Fauci Expects Decision on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine This Week - The New York Times