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June 30, 2022 - Brief Issue 344
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 Advisors Recommend Updating Booster Before Fall Surge (Health & Science)
Pfizer, BioNTech to Start Testing Universal Coronavirus Vaccine (Health & Science)
Fauci Says Paxlovid Kept Him Out of the Hospital (Health & Science)
Psychological Scars Remain After Shanghai’s Latest Lockdown (Around the World)
Norway’s Successful Handling of the Pandemic Could be a Playbook for Other Nations (Around the World)
Macau Could Lockdown Again Amid New Surge (Around the World)
Elmo Gets Vaccinated, Ted Cruz Feuds With the Muppets Again (U.S. Government & Politics)
Fed Chair Powell Says He’s More Concerned by Inflation than Recession Risk (U.S. Economy)
Consumer Confidence Hits Lowest Point in Nearly a Decade (U.S. Economy)
Coupons Disappear Amid Inflation (U.S. Society)
Health & Science
There have been 87,411,073 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 1,017,468 people have died (Johns Hopkins). The United States has administered 593,739,529 vaccine doses, with 78.1% of all Americans having received at least one vaccine dose and 66.9% fully vaccinated. Among adults aged 18 or older 89.5% have received at least one dose, and 76.8% are fully vaccinated (U.S. CDC). 47.3% of fully vaccinated Americans have received a first booster shot. 26.1% of Americans aged 50 or older have received a second booster shot. Worldwide, there have been 546,457,072 cases of coronavirus, with 6,334,580 deaths.
FDA Advisors Recommend Updating Booster Before Fall Surge
On Tuesday the FDA’s independent advisory committee voted 19-2 to recommend the agency authorize a Covid-19 booster formulation that targets the Omicron variant. The committee “signaled a preference for the strain composition to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants that currently account for more than half of all U.S. Covid infections, rather than deploying shots targeting the original Omicron variant that began circulating domestically in late 2021,” writes Politico. Panel members also suggested they prefer a bivalent shot, which would target both Omicron and the original strain of the coronavirus that emerged in 2019. The FDA is aiming to make a strain composition recommendation by early July to give vaccine makers time to manufacture doses before October.
Both Moderna and Pfizer presented evidence and strategies for updating the vaccine (WaPo). Moderna favors a bivalent vaccine and said they could start delivering the vaccine this summer, though a vaccine that targets the newest subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 could take longer. Pfizer-BioNTech said that they found that a vaccine that target a single variant, BA.1, was better than a bivalen formulation.
Pfizer, BioNTech to Start Testing Universal Coronavirus Vaccine
Pfizer and BioNTech have announced that they will begin testing next-generation shots that provide protection against a wide variety of coronaviruses later this year. In presentation slides posted on BioNTech's website for its investor day, the German biotech firm said its aim was to "provide durable variant protection." The new shots, which will be tested on humans, “include T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against severe disease if the virus becomes more dangerous, and pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of viruses and its mutations,” writes Reuters.
Fauci Says Paxlovid Kept Him Out of the Hospital
On Wednesday Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top medical advisor for the coronavirus pandemic, said that Paxlovid, the antiviral treatment made by Pfizer, kept him out of the hospital after he tested positive earlier this month. “Paxlovid did what it was supposed to do,” Dr. Fauci, 81, said in an interview, after disclosing that he had suffered what to be a “rebound” after taking the five-day course of the pills (NYT). “I’m 81 years old, I was at risk for hospitalization and I didn’t even come close to being sick enough to be hospitalized,” he said. Dr. Fauci has been vaccinated against Covid-19 and has received two booster doses (WaPo).
Around the World
Psychological Scars Remain After Shanghai’s Latest Lockdown
After two months of strict lockdown, Shanghai businesses and restaurants were finally allowed to reopen in June. State media reported a return to normalcy, but residents say the chaos and suffering they endured are making it difficult to feel normal. The lockdown forced residents to remain in their homes, prevented them from buying food, denied some people medical care, and separated many parents from their children. Even with the media saying the worst is over, many of the 25 million people in the city are taking stock of what happened and trying to understand what the future may hold as China remains committed to its zero-Covid policy. Experts say the trauma experienced by many residents will create lasting mental health issues. “We are seeing a lot of symptoms of post-traumatic stress, though many people may not recognize them,” said Chen Jiejun, a Shanghai psychologist. Some people felt chest pain, or could not focus at work, she said (NYT). “How do you go from this trust that has been broken, and rebuild it in a way that will allow you to feel stable and safe again?”
Norway’s Successful Handling of the Pandemic Could be a Playbook for Other Nations
According to mortality rates published by the World Health Organization from the past two years, nearly every country’s excess death count spiked during the pandemic, except for Norway’s, which barely moved. Norway has pulled off the closest thing to an optimal response to the pandemic, and even better, they’ve produced a study showing how they did it. The Wall Street Journal explains: “Norway’s government had the foresight during the first days of Covid-19 to appoint a panel called the Koronakommisjonen. Its mission was figuring out what the Norwegians did, what they could have done and what they should do. This crisis was barely under way when they began preparing for the next one.” In over 937 pages of post mortems, the decision making considerations of the Norwegian government are outlined, providing a close look at how the country responded to what other countries found to be paralyzing uncertainty. The Koronakommisjonen was candid about its failures, too, saying, for example, that the disruption in daily life disproportionately affected children and that the long-term effects on their development have yet to be fully understood.
Macau Could Lockdown Again Amid New Surge
Officials in the autonomous Chinese city of Macau are conducting mandatory testing and locking down parts of the city as cases spike to their highest levels yet, raising fears that the city will be shut down again (NYT). Macau reported 223 new cases since Sunday, the most in any week since the beginning of the pandemic. Every resident is required to take an antigen test daily and anyone who tests positive must quarantine. Authorities have shut down parks, swimming pools, salons, and theaters, but have not said whether casinos, which account for about 80% of the government revenue, will be closed anytime soon.
Bonus Read: “Boris Johnson looks for love on the world stage,” (Politico).
U.S. Government & Politics
Bonus Read: “After the overturning of Roe, many Republicans want to change the subject,” (WaPo).
Elmo Gets Vaccinated, Ted Cruz Feuds With the Muppets Again
Following the approval of Covid vaccination for kids under age five, the red Muppet Elmo received its vaccination during an airing of Sesame Street as part of an effort to promote the vaccination of young children (WaPo). Elmo stated, there was “a little pinch, but it was okay,” and the Washington Post writes, “His Muppet father, Louie, told Elmo, who was wearing a green bandage on his arm, that he was ‘super-duper’ while getting his shot.” Louie also comments, “I had a lot of questions about Elmo getting the covid vaccine. Was it safe? Was it the right decision? I talked to our pediatrician so I could make the right choice,” adding, “I learned that Elmo getting vaccinated is the best way to keep himself, our friends, neighbors and everyone else healthy and enjoying the things they love.”
The move sparked yet another feud between Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the Muppets over vaccinations. Cruz tweeted out a clip of the episode, tweeting, “Thanks, @sesamestreet for saying parents are allowed to have questions! You then have @elmo aggressively advocate for vaccinating children UNDER 5. But you cite ZERO scientific evidence for this.” Cruz also linked to a press release on questions regarding the decisions around vaccinating children. The Post writes, “The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency-use authorization to coronavirus vaccines for young children this month. It cleared two vaccines — one by Moderna and the other by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech — for smaller doses than adults. Cruz, along with other Republicans, was seeking more answers from the government before the authorization of the vaccines for children in this age group. The Centers for Disease Control said in announcing its recommendation that the child vaccines have undergone ‘the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history.’” It is not the first time Cruz has clashed with the Muppets over vaccination, having previously taken aim at Big Bird over the issue.
Bonus Read: “As Army deadline nears, about 60,000 part-time soldiers unvaccinated,” (WaPo).
U.S. Economy
Fed Chair Powell Says He’s More Concerned by Inflation than Recession Risk
On Wednesday, while speaking at an event on European Central Bank policy, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated that his assessment is that the impact of inflation is greater than the risk that Fed policies will trigger a recession (WSJ). Powell stated, “Is there a risk we would go too far? Certainly there’s a risk,” adding, “The bigger mistake to make—let’s put it that way—would be to fail to restore price stability.” Powell also said, “There’s a clock running here,” adding, “The risk is that because of the multiplicity of shocks, you start to transition into a higher-inflation regime. Our job is to prevent that from happening.” The Journal writes, “Since March, the Fed has raised its benchmark federal-funds rate three times from near zero to a range between 1.5% and 1.75%, including a 0.75-percentage-point rise this month, the largest in 28 years. Mr. Powell and many of his colleagues have signaled that another increase of that magnitude is likely to be warranted at the Fed’s next meeting, July 26-27.”
Consumer Confidence Hits Lowest Point in Nearly a Decade
On Tuesday, the Conference Board released its latest Consumer Confidence Index data, showing that confidence hit its lowest level in nearly a decade (WSJ). The Wall Street Journal writes, “The consumer-confidence index, which hints at American attitudes toward jobs and the economy, also fell, dropping to 98.7 in June, down 4.5 points from 103.2 in May, the Conference Board said on Tuesday. The board’s expectations index, which measures consumers’ short-term outlook about the labor market, business and income, reached a low of 66.4 in June from 73.7 the prior month. That was its lowest reading since March 2013.” Inflation is playing a significant role. The Journal notes, “The survey adds to evidence that inflation is weighing on households. A separate survey of consumer sentiment, which polls consumer attitudes on personal finance, this month dropped to its lowest point on record, according to the latest report from the University of Michigan.”
Bonus Read: “General Mills Sales Climb 8% on Higher Prices,” (WSJ).
U.S. Society
Coupons Disappear Amid Inflation
The New York Times reports that amid inflation coupons are becoming less and less available even as rising prices increase interest in them (NYT). The Times reports that coupons are “getting ever harder to come by. In 2021, Kantar Media estimates, 168 billion circulated, across both print and digital formats. That was down from about 294 billion in 2015,” adding, “The shrinking coupon market includes not just the number of coupons distributed but also the share turned in at checkout. Redemption rates declined to 0.5 percent of all print and digital coupons in 2020 from about 3.5 percent in the early 1980s, according to a paper by economists at Harvard University, Georgetown University and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.” The Times notes that other incentives are in some cases replacing coupons, but adds that for many customers who rely on coupons, the other incentives do not make up for the declining availability.
Analysis & Arguments
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