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September 23, 2021 - Brief Issue 240
The Coronavirus Daily Brief is a daily news and analysis roundup edited by New America’s International Security Program and Arizona State University.
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Top Headlines
FDA Authorizes Pfizer Booster Shot for Older Americans and Those at High Risk; U.S. CDC Still to Decide Who Gets Booster (Health & Science)
Across U.S., Hospital Care Delayed Due to Covid Surge, Worrying Doctors as Flu Season Approaches (Health & Science)
Moderna and Pfizer: Both Effective but Moderna Has More Lasting Protection, Says U.S. Study (Health & Science)
Pfizer Study for Pregnant Women Delayed by Slow Enrollment (Health & Science)
Pandemic Fuels Mass Migration from Latin America and Caribbean (Around the World)
Germany Will Stop Paying Unvaccinated Workers if They Need to Quarantine (Around the World)
Italy Triples Pledge for Providing Vaccines to Other Countries (Around the World)
U.S. to Donate 500 Million Pfizer Doses to Global Vaccination Effort (U.S. Government & Politics)
Pressure for Vaccine Companies to Share Their Formula Grows (U.S. Government & Politics)
Census Data Shows American Incomes Fell in 2020, But Rose if Stimulus Included (U.S. Economy)
Housing Market Cools in August (U.S. Economy)
As Students Return, Faculty Worry About Covid (U.S. Society)
Health & Science
There have been 42,547,004 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 681,222 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 387,493,716 vaccine doses, with 64% of all Americans having received at least one vaccine dose and 54.9% fully vaccinated. Among adults aged 18 or older 76.7% have received at least one dose, and 66.1% are fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). Worldwide, there have been 230,156,368 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with 4,720,631 deaths.
FDA Authorizes Pfizer Booster Shot for Older Americans and Those at High Risk; U.S. CDC Still to Decide Who Gets Booster
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the provision of a booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine to people aged over 65 and to those at risk of severe illness (WaPo). The FDA said the booster should be provided six months after the completion of the original two shot regimen. The Post writes, “The committee’s discussions followed a dramatic exchange at the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, when advisers overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to offer Pfizer booster shots to all Americans over age 16, but then voted unanimously in favor of third doses for some high-risk people and those older than age 65.”
The U.S. still awaits a decision from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding booster shots, which is expected today after a meeting. The Post notes, “The FDA action is not the final step before the booster is made available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisers still must recommend in detail who should receive the shots.” Scientific advisors to the CDC met on Wednesday to discuss which Americans should be eligible for booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. They are also deciding which groups will have priority and get the shots first (NYT).
Across U.S., Hospital Care Delayed Due to Covid Surge, Worrying Doctors as Flu Season Approaches
An average of more than 90,000 patients in the U.S. are being treated daily for Covid-19, filling ICU’s in many hospitals and preventing other patients from getting the care they need (NYT). In some instances, patients have died while waiting for a spot in an acute or ICU ward and doctors have had to ration care and make tough decisions about who to prioritize. “We are facing a dire situation,” said Dr. Marc Harrison, the chief executive of Intermountain Healthcare, the large Utah-based hospital group, which announced a pause of nearly all non-urgent surgeries on Sept. 10. “We do not have the capacity at this point in time to take care of people with very urgent conditions yet are not immediately life threatening,” he said at a news conference. In other states with low vaccination rates, like Georgia, Idaho, and Alaska, doctors and hospitals cannot perform necessary procedures like cancer and heart surgeries because hospitals are filled instead with patients sick with Covid-19. Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, the state’s largest hospital, has been rationing care as patients wait for hours to get to the emergency room and doctors scramble to find beds. “While we are doing our utmost, we are no longer able to provide the standard of care to each and every patient who needs our help,” said the hospital’s medical staff in a letter to the community in mid-September.
As the pace of vaccinations slows to the lowest level in two months and cold and flu season approaches, doctors and health officials worry that the worst is yet to come (CNN). The strain on many hospitals is already overwhelming and adding flu cases would deplete all resources. "We are bracing ourselves for an awfully busy winter ahead," Dr. Megan Ranney, associate dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, told CNN on Tuesday.
Moderna and Pfizer: Both Effective but Moderna Has More Lasting Protection, Says U.S. Study
A study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine evaluated the real-world effectiveness of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines approved for use in the U.S. in preventing symptomatic illness in about 5,000 healthcare workers across 25 states. That study found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had an effectiveness of 88.8% compared with Moderna’s 96.3%. Research published on Friday by the U.S. CDC found that the efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine against hospitalization dropped from 91% to 77% after four months following the second dose (NYT). The Moderna vaccine showed no decline over the same time period. While the disparity is small, it is real and could have an effect on the debate on booster shots. But health experts maintain that the real-world consequences of the difference in effectiveness are uncertain. Both vaccines are still highly effective. “Yes, likely a real difference, probably reflecting what’s in the two vials,” said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. “But truly, how much does this difference matter in the real world? It’s not appropriate for people who took Pfizer to be freaking out that they got an inferior vaccine.”
Pfizer Study for Pregnant Women Delayed by Slow Enrollment
A study led by Pfizer and BioNTech evaluating their Covid-19 vaccine in expectant mothers has been faced with slow enrollment which has delayed results that could help doctors and scientists better understand how the vaccine affects pregnant women and their babies. Pfizer said the slow enrollment has been driven by revised guidelines from the government and physician groups that recommend pregnant women get vaccinated and an increase in vaccine supply. These factors made the possibility of being given a placebo by participating in the trial unappealing. It also raised ethical questions about seeking volunteers (WSJ). “It’s hard to enthusiastically recommend the study when you’ve got a vaccine out there,” said Dr. Andrew Wagner, an obstetrician-gynecologist whose Saginaw, Mich.-based practice enrolled fewer than a dozen subjects, mostly in the spring before the vaccine became widely available. “The scientist hat I wear says you want those patients, but obviously the clinician in me says, ‘You’ve got to get your vaccine.’” As a result of the slow enrollment, Pfizer has missed public targets for safety data on the vaccine in pregnant women. The company said it expects results early next year now, instead of August, when the data was originally expected.
Around the World
Pandemic Fuels Mass Migration from Latin America and Caribbean
A broader mix of nationalities is arriving at the southern border of the U.S. in recent months compared to the past few decades. Historically, most migrants crossing the border were Mexican men, and more recently, families from Central America, specifically Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, a group of countries known as the Northern Triangle. But, as the recent influx of migrants from Haiti demonstrates, the desire to flee floundering economies, violence, and inadequate coronavirus response measures in search of stability and safety in the U.S. is spreading to other countries. The Wall Street Journal reports, “From October 2020 through August, nearly 300,000 migrants from countries other than Mexico and the Northern Triangle were encountered at the border, a fifth of all crossings. For all of fiscal 2020, when the pandemic slowed the flow of migrants, the figure was nearly 44,000, or 11% of crossings. In fiscal 2019, it was 77,000, or 9% of crossings; and the year before it was only 21,000, or 5%. As recently as 2007 such migrants represented less than 1%.” But in July and August, migrants from other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean numbered more than those from either Mexico or those in the Northern Triangle for the first time.
But the reason that many are fleeing their countries--the effects of the pandemic--is also the very reason that many are being sent home as soon as they reach the U.S. Under a public health authority known as Title 42, both the Trump and Biden administrations have denied migrants’ rights to request asylum during a public health emergency. “After the pandemic, what we are now seeing is like a pressure cooker in which the valve has exploded,” said Enrique Vidal, coordinator of Fray Matías de Córdoba Human Rights Center, a pro-migrant nonprofit in Mexico. “It’s a humanitarian drama.”
Germany Will Stop Paying Unvaccinated Workers if They Need to Quarantine
As Germany’s vaccination campaign starts to slow down, German authorities announced on Wednesday that the country’s state governments will no longer pay for unvaccinated people to quarantine (NYT). Currently, the government subsidizes employee salaries when workers need to stay home due to having Covid-19 or being exposed to the virus through a close contact. The new policy is an attempt to increase the vaccination rate. Jens Spahn, the country’s health minister, noted that vaccination remains entirely voluntary in Germany, but “with this decision also comes the responsibility to bear financial consequences.” Currently, 67% of Germany’s population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.
Italy Triples Pledge for Providing Vaccines to Other Countries
Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday that Italy will give other countries 45 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines before the end of 2021, three times its original pledge (Reuters). "Nearly half of these have already been delivered and today I am glad to announce that we will triple our efforts. We will donate another 30 million additional doses by the end of the year to reach 45 million," Draghi said in a video message delivered during the U.S.-hosted global Covid-19 Summit.
Bonus Read: “Europe’s Covid-19 Vaccination Success Faces Winter Test,” (WSJ).
U.S. Government & Politics
U.S. to Donate 500 Million Pfizer Doses to Global Vaccination Effort
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced that the United States will purchase and donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to other countries (WaPo). Biden announced the decision at a virtual summit on the pandemic. The White House Covid Coordinator Jeffrey Zients and Secretary of State Antony Blinken touted the commitment in an op-ed for the Washington Post in which they wrote “it is a monumental commitment by the United States, bringing our total number of donated vaccines to the world to more than 1.1 billion,” adding, “For every one shot we’ve put in an American arm to date, we are now donating about three shots globally.”
Pressure for Vaccine Companies to Share Their Formula Grows
The New York Times reports that pressure is growing for American vaccine companies to share their formulas with other countries to enable expanded manufacturing of vaccines (NYT). The Times writes, “pressure is growing on American drug companies — particularly Moderna, the upstart biotech firm that developed its coronavirus vaccine with billions of dollars in taxpayer money — to share their formulas with manufacturers in nations that desperately need more shots. Last year’s successful race to develop vaccines in extraordinarily short order put companies like Moderna and Pfizer in a highly favorable spotlight. But now, with less than 10 percent of those in many poor nations fully vaccinated and a dearth of doses contributing to millions of deaths, health officials in the United States and abroad are pressing the companies to do more to address the global shortage.” A senior administration official told the Times that the administration has privately encouraged Pfizer and Moderna to license their formula. Pfizer announced an agreement to share 500,000 doses of its vaccines at its not for profit price on Wednesday. Moderna, however, according to the official, negotiations with Moderna have not been successful. The Times also notes, “The World Health Organization has also had trouble getting Moderna to the negotiating table, according to Dr. Martin Friede, a W.H.O. official, and Charles Gore, who runs a United Nations-backed nonprofit organization, Medicines Patent Pool.”
U.S. Economy
Census Data Shows American Incomes Fell in 2020, But Rose if Stimulus Included
On Tuesday, the Census Bureau released annual data that showed American incomes fell in 2020 (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal writes, “Median household income was about $67,500 in 2020, down 2.9% from the prior year, when it hit an inflation-adjusted historical high. It came as the U.S. last year saw millions lose their jobs and national unemployment soar from a 50-year low to a high of 14.8%.” The fall was the first significant decline in almost a decade. The Census data includes unemployment benefits but does not include stimulus payments or tax credits enacted as a result of the pandemic. The Journal notes, “If those had been counted, the median household income would have risen 4% to $62,773.”
Housing Market Cools in August
The booming housing market cooled off a bit in August, with existing-home sales dropping two percent compared to the prior month (WSJ). Sales were also down 1.5% compared to the prior year. Rising prices due to high demand likely played a role in the decline in sales. The Wall Street Journal writes, “Months of extreme competition among house buyers has pushed prices sharply higher. Some prospective buyers can no longer afford to buy, and others have taken a break from house hunting after losing out on multiple offers, real-estate agents say.” However, sales remain higher than they were before the pandemic, and the Journal notes, “Low mortgage rates continue to spur robust home-buying demand, and the number of houses for sale is still well below normal for this time of year.”
U.S. Society
As Students Return, Faculty Worry About Covid
The Washington Post reports that as students return to colleges across the country, professors are expressing concern about Covid risks (WaPo). Irene Mulvey, a professor of mathematics at Fairfield University in Connecticut and president of the American Association of University Professors, told the Post, “The pressure was building all summer long,” adding, “Now that people are back in the classroom, they’re worried about their safety, they’re worried about bringing the virus home.” For some faculty, the concern has led to action. The Post reports, “Faculty members have signed petitions, passed resolutions, written open letters calling for more precautions and more options. Some have protested. There were rallies and marches at multiple campuses last week within the University System of Georgia, and others are planned at campuses in Kentucky, South Carolina and Texas, according to the AAUP. At the University of Oklahoma on Tuesday, faculty members rallied with signs calling on the school to do more to protect them.” And some faculty have skirted the rules imposed by their universities by requiring students to mask or continuing to hold classes online. The Post notes that while there is concern about overly lax policies, as with the country overall some professors are also view actions being taken such as masking or vaccine requirements as too stringent or unnecessary and others just aren’t particularly fired up by the issue.
Bonus Read: “So, You Think You’ve Tried Remote Work? You Probably Haven’t,” (WSJ).
Analysis & Arguments
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