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June 27, 2022 - Brief Issue 341

The Coronavirus Daily Brief is a daily news and analysis roundup edited by New America’s International Security Program and Arizona State University.

The brief will be on hiatus July 4-6.

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Top Headlines

Some U.S. Pharmacies Won’t Vaccinate Children Under 5; Some Parents Hesitant (Health & Science)

Omicron Subvariants Escape Immunity from Previous Infections and Vaccinations, New Study Shows (Health & Science)

U.K. Delay in Covid Inquiry Could Lead to Lawsuits (Around the World)

Chinese Factory Hub Near Hong Kong Border Increases Restrictions (Around the World)

Biden Administration Officials: A Recession is Not Inevitable (U.S. Government & Politics)

Biden Administration Won’t Name Hospitals Where Covid Spread (U.S. Government & Politics)

Opioid Addiction Patients Could Lose Access to Virtual Care (U.S. Government & Politics)

DC Seniors Face Food Insecurity, With Highest Rate in the Country (U.S. Society)

Health & Science

There have been 86,967,842 coronavirus cases in the United States, and 1,015,938 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 543,653,047 cases of coronavirus, with 6,329,230 deaths.

Some U.S. Pharmacies Won’t Vaccinate Children Under 5; Some Parents Hesitant

Even though children as young as six months are now eligible for the coronavirus vaccine in the U.S., some parents are struggling to find a place to administer the vaccine. Under the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, pharmacists can give Covid vaccines to all children ages 3 and older during the public health emergency, but some pharmacies are still only offering vaccines to children over 5 years old. Publix and Kroger, for example, won’t give the shots to children under 5 (WaPo). CVS is offering Covid shots to children as young as 18 months at stores that have MinuteClinics, but at other locations the age limit is 5 (NYT). But even if the pharmacy isn’t offering the shot to the youngest children, the pharmacists should be able to tell parents where the vaccines are available, or they could speak to their pediatrician first. 

Some families are more hesitant to vaccinate the youngest children anyway. According to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation in April, less than one in five families want to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible (Guardian). 

Omicron Subvariants Escape Immunity from Previous Infections and Vaccinations, New Study Shows

Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 appear to escape antibody responses among people who have been previously infected with Covid-19 and those who have been fully vaccinated and boosted, according to data from researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, of Harvard Medical School (CNN). The research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, showed that the neutralizing antibodies produced by a previous infection or vaccination are several times lower against BA.4 and BA.5 compared to the original virus. "We observed 3-fold reductions of neutralizing antibody titers induced by vaccination and infection against BA4 and BA5 compared with BA1 and BA2, which are already substantially lower than the original COVID-19 variants," Dr. Dan Barouch, an author of the paper and director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, wrote in an email to CNN. "Our data suggest that these new Omicron subvariants will likely be able to lead to surges of infections in populations with high levels of vaccine immunity as well as natural BA1 and BA2 immunity," Barouch wrote. "However, it is likely that vaccine immunity will still provide substantial protection against severe disease with BA4 and BA5."

Bonus Read: “UC Santa Cruz researchers collect more than 10 million coronavirus variants,” (MercuryNews).

Around the World

U.K. Delay in Covid Inquiry Could Lead to Lawsuits

Bereaved families in the U.K. warned that they may take legal action against the government for its delay in starting an inquiry about the coronavirus response. The government has not set a date for the inquiry to begin and families who have lost loved ones are in “limbo,” according to the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group (Bloomberg). Prime Minister Boris Johnson said previously that the inquiry would start in spring 2022, but no further information has been made public. The group says that the delay could be costing lives as it is slowing down a review of best practices and lessons learned. The group also warns that key evidence could be tampered with or destroyed before the inquiry begins.  

Chinese Factory Hub Near Hong Kong Border Increases Restrictions 

China’s southern manufacturing hub Shenzhen closed down wholesale markets, cinemas, and gyms in a central district bordering Hong Kong over the weekend after nearly a dozen cases of Covid-19 were reported on Friday and Saturday. Shenzhen reported seven local cases, five of which were symptomatic on Friday and four local asymptomatic cases on Saturday (SCMP). Residents must show negative test results less than 24 hours old to use public transportation or enter public areas. 

U.S. Government & Politics

Biden Administration Officials: A Recession is Not Inevitable

As we have covered in recent briefs, concerns have increased about the potential for a recession, as the Federal Reserve seeks to rein in inflation driven by the pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and other factors. Politico reports that on the Sunday talk show circuit, Biden administration officials emphasized that they do not consider a recession to be inevitable (Politico). On Fox News Sunday, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese stated, “Not only is the recession not inevitable, but I think that a lot of people are underestimating those strengths and the resilience of the American economy. We have been through Delta and Omicron. We’ve had a war in Europe and all of the impacts that that has had and through it, the American economy has remained resilient. What we want to focus on now is taking every step we can to continue that progress.” The same day on ABC, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also stated, “I expect the economy to slow. It’s been growing at a very rapid rate as the economy, as the labor market is recovered and we reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect to transition to steady and stable growth. I don’t think recession is at all inevitable.” 

Biden Administration Won’t Name Hospitals Where Covid Spread

Politico reports that the Biden administration will not release data on Covid spread  that would name hospitals (Politico). Politico writes, “The Biden administration during the Omicron wave considered publicly releasing data detailing how prevalent Covid-19 spread was inside individual hospitals, but ultimately chose to keep that information private, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The decision to withhold the names, based partly on concerns about duplicative data and partly on fears of embarrassing hospitals, denies patients the opportunity to steer clear of health systems with poor track records and allows facilities to avoid public scrutiny, patient advocates say.” The decision has seen opposition from some patient advocates that see it as a lack of transparency.

Opioid Addiction Patients Could Lose Access to Virtual Care

Politico reports that the coming expiration of the declaration of Covid as a public health emergency, potentially as soon as October, could leave thousands of patients wrestling with opioid addiction in the lurch, as permissions for virtual care expire (Politico). Politico writes, “Thousands of patients turning to online help for opioid addiction could soon lose access to life-saving services that rapidly expanded during the pandemic — even as opioid deaths reach record levels. A new crop of startups boomed when regulations eased in 2020, allowing patients to see medical practitioners from their homes and skip the in-person visits normally required to get a prescription for buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid dependence.” However, Politico adds, “the federal regulations that have allowed practitioners the flexibility to prescribe buprenorphine after an audio or video appointment — and to patients outside their state — are due to expire along with the Covid-19 public health emergency.” Politico reports, “Public health officials now fear they are on the precipice of losing one of their most valuable tools to combat opioid addiction, further complicating efforts to tackle a crisis that is affecting a growing number of young adults and claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.” As we have covered in prior briefs, the pandemic era has seen new records in terms of opioid and other drug-related deaths, contributing to the concern among some about the impact.

Bonus Read: “Roe reversal divides 2024 GOP field,” (Politico).

U.S. Society

DC Seniors Face Food Insecurity, With Highest Rate in the Country

The Washington Post reports that senior citizens in the District of Columbia continue to face substantial food insecurity particularly amid the pandemic (WaPo). The Post writes that there are “about 11,000 older adults who are food-insecure in D.C. — the city with the highest rate of senior food insecurity in the country, according to the nonprofit Feeding America.” The pandemic has had a substantial impact. The Post writes, “More than two years into a pandemic that disproportionally affected seniors, D.C. advocates and officials said residents continue to use nutrition programs more than they than did before the virus arrived. D.C.’s Department of Aging and Community Living — the agency in charge of monitoring seniors’ health, education and social services — says it delivered about 2 million meals last year, a 163 percent increase over 2019.” Many factors may contribute to the high rate in DC. The Post flags two in particular: “Isolation — which restricts access to food — is a big factor, and DACL officials said more than half of D.C. residents over 60 live alone, compared with just 27 percent nationally. Poverty also exacerbates hunger in a city where 70 percent of seniors live on a fixed income, said D.C. Hunger Solutions policy analyst Melissa Jensen. 'With a rising cost of living in the District, their incomes do not fluctuate with that, resulting in less money to spend on nutritious food,' she said.”

Bonus Read: “6 things we've learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning,” (NPR).

Analysis & Arguments

On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The decision’s impact will be felt widely with the New York Times reporting that about half of all states either now have bans on abortion in effect or are likely to expand restrictions as a result of the decision. The decision, and its political fallout will also reshape American politics in multiple ways. The impact will likely also be seen in stories and issues surrounding the pandemic. In prior briefs, we have covered reporting on how the political fallout of the court’s leak (and now decision) interacted with the political dynamics of the pandemic era, highlighted analysis comparing the role of bodily autonomy in views on abortion rights and coronavirus, and tracked stories on how policies around abortion provision, moral exceptions, and research restrictions affected policy around vaccine mandates. We have also highlighted reporting on the pandemic’s early impact on abortion access in Europe. As the ways that the court’s decision, its direct impact on women and others, and its political fallout interact with the pandemic become clearer, we will cover those stories as well.

David Ignatius writes on lessons from the failed legislative efforts on semiconductor supply chain disruptions (WaPo).

Jessica Grose writes on parental exhaustion even after the approval of vaccines for young kids (NYT).

The Washington Post editorial board writes on the twilight zone of decisions about Covid risk (WaPo).

 Readers can send in tips, critiques, questions, and suggestions to coronavirusbrief@newamerica.org.

The Brief is edited by David Sterman and Emily Schneider with Senior Editor Peter Bergen.

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