March 2 coronavirus news

Empty sit in a box waiting to be filed with the Moderna vaccine at a vaccination center in Londonderry, New Hampshire on February 4.

Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine should not replace second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines except in “exceptional situations,” says the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.?

“Any of the currently authorized Covid-19 vaccines can be used when indicated, ACIP does not see a product preference,” said Dr. Sarah Mbaeyi, CDC medical officer Tuesday during the CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity call.

The CDC currently recommends two dose series for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The second dose of the Pfizer vaccine should be administered three weeks after the first, while people should wait four weeks before receiving the second dose of the Moderna vaccine.?

If there are delays, the second dose can be administered up to six weeks after the first, according to updated CDC guidance, Mbaeyi said.

However, the CDC did say that in the rare circumstance a person is unable to receive their second Pfizer or Moderna dose, they can receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. But it must have been at least 28 days since receiving their first dose.

Mbaeyi added that it would be extremely unlikely that someone would be in this circumstance and people should not substitute the Johnson & Johnson vaccine if there’s “temporary unavailability of Pfizer or Moderna.”

The CDC is also recommending against fully vaccinated people signing up to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.??

“If somebody has completed a series, so they’ve gotten their Pfizer or Moderna series, they are considered vaccinated,” Mbaeyi said. “They do not need any additional Janssen vaccine to kind of boost their protection, and we’re recommending against that.”?

The CDC clinical considerations will be updated to include Johnson & Johnson viral vector vaccine.??

In this July 22, 2020 file photo, health care workers use a nasal swab to test a person for Covid-19 at a pop up testing site at the Koinonia Worship Center and Village in Pembroke Park, Florida.?

Continued testing is “critically important” in the fight against Covid-19, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, especially as cases plateau and more contagious variants spread around the US.

However, Covid-19 testing in the US has dropped by a quarter since reaching a peak in mid-January, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project.?

Daily Community Profile Reports from the White House Covid-19 team have been tracking various indicators including testing and color-code metrics based on transmission severity.

In terms of testing rates, a?seven-day daily average?of at least five tests for every 100 people?is ideal. But in the latest report published Tuesday, only five states reached that threshold over the last seven days, landing them in the “dark green” category: Rhode Island, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Alaska.

Meanwhile, eight states were in the “red” or “dark red,” with less than one test for every 100 people: Oklahoma, Missouri, South Dakota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Washington, California and Georgia.?

The federal report notes that the number of tests “may be underestimated due to delayed reporting,” but nearly every state had a significant decline in testing rates compared to mid-January.

California has had one of the largest drops in testing since mid-January, federal data shows. According to the state health department, testing volume has decreased for the fifth straight week — down from a seven-day average of about 230,000 tests per day to about 181,000 tests per day. In conversations with testing laboratories, the state found that the decrease was driven by less frequent utilization of testing services, not by lack of supply or capacity.?

In fact, national data from Quest Diagnostics shows that the lab processed about 4.3 million diagnostic Covid-19 tests in February, but had the capacity to process up to 7 million.

Overall, federal data shows that the median turnaround time for Covid-19 tests had dropped to one day in nearly every state. For about a dozen states, that’s an improvement from the two or three day turnaround times in mid-January.

California recently released guidance around testing for Covid-19 during the vaccine rollout, urging residents to continue to get tested even if they’ve been fully vaccinated.

“If your job requires it, you still need to get tested regularly, even if you’ve had the vaccine,”?the state’s Covid-19 website states.

Brazil had its highest number of Covid-19 deaths in a single day on Tuesday, according to data from the country’s health ministry.?

The country saw at least 1,641 new Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, topping last week’s previous record of about 1,541 coronavirus-related deaths in a single-day.?The country’s total number of confirmed deaths stands at about 257,361, according to the country’s health ministry.?

Brazil is the second-highest country with the most Covid-19 deaths worldwide, after the United States, Johns Hopkins University data shows.

Amid the crippling figures and an alarming lack of Covid-19 vaccines, Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mour?o defended the government’s position against a national lockdown to help curve the spread of the deadly virus, saying the country is “not a dictatorship” and that the best way to fight the pandemic is to accelerate the vaccination roll out – which according to Mour?o is “going well.”

Brazil has vaccinated a little over 3% of its population, according to Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a?Brazilian Ministry of Health research institution. More than 80% of intensive care units are filled in 19 states, the foundation reported.

As of Tuesday, Brazil reported at least 10,646,926 cases of Covid-19, according to official data.

A custodial worker vacuums a classroom at an elementary school in Leander, Texas, on Friday, September 18, 2020.

Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina issued a statement Tuesday saying that despite making progress against the Covid‐19 pandemic, removing state health mandates, including the mask wearing requirement, risks “disastrous consequences,” especially in schools.

“The Texas State Teachers Association urges the governor to keep his mask mandate in place, especially in our public schools, and see that it is enforced,“ the statement said.?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Tuesday afternoon ending the statewide mask mandate and allowing all businesses to open without restriction.

Molina also called on the governor to give teachers and other school employees priority for Covid-19 vaccination.

“Texans want to see all their public schools reopened, but they want to see them reopened safely. That includes continued safety practices, including mask use, and vaccines for educators,” Molina said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has conducted fewer workplace inspections despite a surge in complaints since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to?a new report?from the Department of Labor Inspector General’s office.

The OIG studied the period from Feb. 1 through Oct. 26, 2020 and found OSHA under the Trump administration received 15% more complaints but performed 50% fewer inspections compared to a similar period in 2019.?

The OIG further cautioned that since most of OSHA’s onsite inspections were conducted remotely, “hazards may go unidentified and unabated longer, with employees being more vulnerable to hazardous risk exposure while working.”?

OSHA did not track if inspections were conducted onsite or remotely in its data system, according to the report, which stressed the importance of tracking remote inspections “to determine their frequency and timeliness for identifying and ensuring abatement of worksite hazards.”

The OIG said that OSHA has concurred with the report’s recommendations, which included prioritizing high risk employees for Covid-related onsite inspections, retroactively tracking remote inspections to Feb. 1 and going forward, analyzing remote and onsite inspections, and evaluating whether stronger standards are needed to help control the spread of the coronavirus as workers return onsite.?

A memo from Department of Labor Deputy Assistant Secretary Amanda Edens, which is part of the OIG report, says OSHA “takes seriously the input and recommendations found in the report.”

Senior adviser to the White House Covid-19 response team Andy Slavitt said that the White House thinks “it’s a mistake” to relax Covid-19 restrictions too early and called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to rethink his decision to lift the state’s mask mandate and let businesses open at full capacity.?

“We certainly understand the pressure governors are under and we appreciate the working relationship we have with Gov. Abbott, as you know the President was just down there, but at the same time, we think it’s a mistake to lift these mandates too early. Masks are saving a lot of lives,” Slavitt told CNN on Tuesday.

Slavitt said he would not get ahead of the scientists on guidance for people who have been fully vaccinated.?CNN previously reported that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release that guidance when it is finalized later this week.?

Here are some reactions from mayors so far:

The National Institutes of Health announced on Tuesday the launch of new research effort to better understand how Covid-19 affects children.

The effort will focus much of the research on what children are at risk for multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and how this severe illness can be treated.?

The new initiative, called Collaboration to Assess Risk and Identify Long-Term Outcomes for Children with COVID (CARING for Children with COVID), is led by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development (NICHD), in collaboration with National Institute of Allergy and Immunology (NIAD).??

“This effort stems from NIH’s commitment to understanding the spectrum of risk that SARS-CoV-2 poses for children and to identifying interventions to improve their short- and long-term health outcomes,” said Diana Bianchi, NICHD director and co-chair for CARING for Children with COVID.

The UK government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) — or furlough scheme — will be extended until the end of September, the British Treasury announced Tuesday, providing support for millions of workers across the country during the pandemic.??

“Our Covid support schemes have been a lifeline to millions, protecting jobs and incomes across the UK,” Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said in a statement.?

The chancellor is expected to outline further details around the extension of the furlough scheme on Wednesday, and is set to announce further benefits for self-employed workers.?

According to the Treasury, employees will continue to receive 80% of their salary for hours not worked until the scheme ends.?

“The government will ask for a small contribution of just 10% in July and 20% in August and September towards the hours their staff do not work,” the statement added.?

This Dec. 2, 2020 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson shows vials of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.?

CVS will begin administering Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines this week,?CVS Health spokesperson Ethan Slavin?tells CNN.?

“We’ll receive more than 200,000 Johnson & Johnson doses this week, and increase active stores accordingly in the 17 states where we currently offer Covid-19 vaccines,” Slavin said.?

CVS is offering vaccinations as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program in: California,?Connecticut,?Hawaii,?Maryland,?Massachusetts,?New Jersey,?New York,?Rhode Island,?South Carolina,?Texas, Virginia, Alabama,?Arizona,?Florida,?Louisiana,?Ohio, and?Pennsylvania.?

President Biden cautioned Americans that the fight against Covid-19 “is far from over” during remarks at the White House on Tuesday, as some states around the country begin to roll back restrictions aimed at combatting the spread of the virus.?

He cautioned that things could continue to get worse as new variants spread and unforeseen setbacks like winter weather hamper vaccine distribution.?

“Though we celebrate the news of a third vaccine, I urge all Americans, please keep washing your hands. Stay socially distanced. Wear masks, keep wearing them. Get vaccinated when it’s your turn. Now is not the time to let up,” Biden added.??

The President also reiterated his call for all American’s to wear masks for his first 100 days in office hours after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced that their states would be lifting mask mandates.?

When asked when he thought the country would get back to normal, Biden said he’s been cautioned not to give an answer to that because things could change, but said he hopes that it will be before this time next year.

Watch:

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02:36 - Source: CNN

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, DC on March 2.

President Biden said his administration would order states to prioritize educators in vaccination efforts in remarks from the State Dining Room Tuesday, announcing he was “using the full authority of the federal government” to direct states to move teachers and school staff to the front of the line.

Through the administration’s federal pharmacy program, which allows Americans to get vaccinated at their local pharmacy, Biden said his administration would prioritize educators starting next week for vaccine appointments in an effort to accelerate the reopening of schools.

“We can reopen schools, if the right steps are taken, even before employees are vaccinated,” Biden said, “But time and again, we’ve heard from educators and parents that have anxieties about that.”

Biden also acknowledged that not every educator would be able to get an appointment in the first week, “but our goal is to do everything we can to help every educator receive a shot this month, the month of March.”

Watch the moment:

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01:38 - Source: CNN

Country music start Dolly Parton announced she’s received a Covid-19 dose in a tweet from her official account today.

Parton received the shot at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

The tweet, which featured a photo of the masked performer getting the vaccine, simply read, “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine.”

Last year, Parton gave a $1 million donation to Covid-19 research which was partly used to fund Moderna’s then-promising Covid-19 vaccine.

President Joe Biden said that there will be enough vaccine supply for every adult in America by the end of May, thanks to ramped up production and the authorization of a third vaccine by Johnson & Johnson.

“About three weeks ago, we were?able to say we will have enough?vaccine supply for adults by the?end of July. I’m pleased to?announce today as a consequence?of this stepped-up process that?I’ve ordered and just outlined,?this country will have enough?vaccine supply – I’ll say it?again – for every adult in?America by the end of May,” he said on Tuesday.

He also announced a new partnership between Merck and Johnson & Johnson to speed up vaccine production. The federal government will be involved in the partnership and has invoked the Defense Production Act.

Biden said two of Merck’s facilities will be converted into production facilities for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, adding that they will operate 24/7.

He also said he asked the Defense Department to provide logistical support.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud signed two public health orders today, revising mass gathering health orders in the state.

According to the new orders, events at banquet centers will no longer have a 300-person limitation, as long as they comply with other health orders. Wedding receptions, funeral repasts, proms, and other events will still be required to follow health orders such as masks wearing.

The second amended order, that provides mandatory requirements for youth, collegiate, amateur, club, and professional sports and for entertainment venues, includes changes such as setting the seated capacity limit for indoor sports and entertainment venues at 25%.

The maximum number of spectators that will be allowed in any outdoor sports and entertainment venue will now be 30% of fixed, seated capacity.

According to the governor’s office, both orders are effective starting at 12:01 p.m. today.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, right, speaks during a press briefing in Lansing, Michigan, on March 2.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced on Tuesday a series of eased Covid-19 restrictions to take effect March 5, both in light of a forthcoming shipment of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines and improved positivity rates and cases.

Whitmer said Michigan has administered 2,269,495 Covid-19 vaccines so far. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said the state expects to receive 82,700 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

However, Whitmer cautioned that after this week, they will receive far fewer doses as the company works to manufacture the doses simultaneously with distribution.

She also said Michigan is equitably distributing at least 50,000 shots per day to underrepresented groups, a metric the state has met for 16 days. Additionally, Khaldun said the state has vaccinated over 45% of its residents age 65 and over.

Here are some of the restriction changes:

The latest numbers: Khaldun said Michigan has had a 3.7% positivity rate over the last week. Inpatient hospitalizations remain down as well, at 3.9%, and both metrics are similar to where the state was in October, she said.

However, Michigan is still bracing with the introduction of the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus. So far, it has identified 422 cases of the variant, two-thirds of which have been associated with a correctional facility outbreak, Khaldun said. Other cases in the state are not traceable, though.

Note: These numbers were released by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services?and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns?Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves speaks at the Governor's Mansion in Jackson, Mississippi, on June 30, 2020.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced the state is lifting their county mask mandates and allowing businesses to operate at full capacity starting tomorrow.

“Starting tomorrow, we are lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules. Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!,” the governor said in a?tweet.

Read the tweet:

Latin America is increasingly relying on Russia and China for Covid-19 vaccines. Meanwhile, the White House said on Monday that President Biden is not considering sharing part of the US coronavirus vaccine supply with Mexico.

CNN’s international correspondent Matt Rivers was live from Mexico City, answering your questions about the region’s vaccine supply and distribution.

Watch more:

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07:16 - Source: CNN

Alaska has ordered 8,900 doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson Vaccine, the state’s chief medical officer, Anne Zink, tweeted Tuesday.

From that total, 3,000 vaccines will be allocated to Native American tribes for the Sovereign Nations Supplement, Zink explained in an email to CNN.

The state’s Federal Pharmacy Partnership will also receive doses of the vaccine.?

“Currently, we can see that the federal pharmacy partnership has been allocated 1800 doses of J&J/Janssen for Alaska to start,” Zink said.?

She noted that this number is separate and in addition to the 8,900 doses the state is expecting.

However, Zink noted that the exact time of arrival and administration of the doses is unknown.

CNN’s Pete Muntean is in the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, speaking to individuals who just received their first Johnson and Johnson single-dose vaccine.

He spoke to 86-year-old Barbara Schmalenberger about her experience getting vaccinated today.

Schmalenberger told him why she had specifically been waiting for the Johnson and Johnson shot.

“It’s better because it’s one shot?and also a very trusted name from?clear back from when my children were?babies, so it’s just –?something just kept telling me?to wait on this,” she said.

She said her journey to get vaccinated has been emotional.

“I called yesterday and I?was on the phone with them a?long time, I was crying because?I was upset because I couldn’t?find out when I could get this?shot and I wanted this shot.?I didn’t want to settle for?anything else,” she told CNN.

Schmalenberger also shared a message for people who may be reluctant to get a vaccine.?

“You need to get it because it protects you, with all these viruses and everything going around, people can’t be what they want to be. They can’t go out. They can’t do things. I haven’t been able to go out to dinner in a restaurant like I love to do and all of those things, and for your health you need to get it, but also, too, get the one that you’re the most – you feel the best about, and I felt the best about this from day one,” she said.

More about the vaccine: Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose coronavirus vaccine is the third Covid-19 shot authorized for use in the?US. The US Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine Saturday, and it began to be administered across the country this week.

The vaccine, made by Janssen, ,J&J’s vaccine arm, was found to be safe and effective,?and it doesn’t require special storage. The vaccine is authorized for people ages 18 and older.

CNN’s Jen Christensen?contributed reporting to this post.

Watch the moment here:

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02:34 - Source: CNN

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference in Lubbock, Texas, on March 2.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott?issued an executive order Tuesday that?rescinds?most of the previous executive orders dealing with Covid-19,?including the statewide mask mandate.

Also, effective March 10, all businesses of any kind are allowed to open 100%, the governor said.

This Dec. 2, 2020 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson shows vials of the COVID-19 vaccine in the United States.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the final step to sign off on the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine Tuesday, publishing the vaccine recommendation in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was given emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration Saturday. On Sunday, the CDC’s independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices unanimously voted to recommend the coronavirus vaccine, and?CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky accepted the recommendation.?

The MMWR publication represents the final and official CDC recommendation for immunization of the US population.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is the first single-dose Covid-19 vaccine authorized in the United States. It can be used to vaccinate Americans who are 18 years old and older.

The report said that the vaccine, made by Janssen, Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine division, “is a reasonable and efficient allocation of resources” during the pandemic.

The CDC did not recommend the vaccine for one population group over the other, but its characteristics – the single dose that?doesn’t need special refrigeration – should help states expand the availability of Covid-19 vaccines to “most community settings and mobile sites” once it is more widely available. The report also said the J&J vaccine might be good for people who would have a hard time returning to get a second dose, as would be needed for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

“The feasibility of administering the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in a wider variety of settings provides an opportunity to improve equitable access to an effective COVID-19 vaccine,” the report said.

Four million doses of the vaccine are now being shipped to the states.?

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House on March 2 in Washington, DC.

The White House announced another increase in vaccine supply amid the push to gets shots into American arms.?

Vaccine supply will be increased for states, tribes, and territories from 14.5 to 15.2 million doses per week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. She noted that states are also receiving 2.8 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses this week, for a total of 18 million doses this week.

The weekly supply to states, tribes, and territories was 8.6 million when Biden assumed office in January.

Governors were informed of the increase during a weekly meeting Tuesday, she said.

Psaki also confirmed that later Tuesday, President Biden will announce what she described as an “unprecedented, historic step,” the partnership between competitor pharmaceutical companies Merck and Johnson & Johnson to ramp up vaccine production. The federal government will be involved in the partnership and has invoked the Defense Production Act.

The Defense Production Act, Psaki later noted, has been invoked to implement fill finish capacity and drug substance availability.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release guidance for people who have been fully vaccinated when it is finalized later this week, a CDC official tells CNN.

The official confirmed the broad themes contained in the guidance, which were?first reported by Politico.

The guidance is reported to include a recommendation that fully vaccinated people limit their social interactions to small home gatherings with other fully vaccinated people. It reportedly will also recommend that fully vaccinated people continue to wear masks in public and practice social distancing. Additionally, it reportedly will include scenarios for Americans to consider when making plans, including travel.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks at a FEMA-supported vaccination center in Philadelphia on March 2.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said a new Federal Emergency Management Agency-supported vaccination site in?Philadelphia, and other ones like it around the US, will be able to vaccinate up to 6,000 people a day.?

As of today, FEMA has setup more than 500 federally supported community vaccination centers and that number is “growing,” Mayorkas said speaking at the Pennsylvania Convention Center – the location of one of FEMA’s Community Vaccination Center pilot facilities.

This was Mayorkas’ first trip outside of Washington, DC, since taking office and he told reporters he had received the vaccine.?

Mayorkas also issued a message to undocumented immigrants, saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection “will not conduct immigration enforcement operations at or near vaccine distribution sites or clinics.”

He said race, ethnicity,?access to transportation or?immigration status should not impact access to the vaccine.?

The Center City Vaccination Center in Philadelphia?is one of FEMA’s mass vaccination sites. It?will open on March 3 and is staffed largely by uniformed military personnel, freeing up local staff,?according to Philadelphia Mayor?Jim Kenney.

The vaccine being used at the facility is provided from a federal allotment, the mayor said, allowing the city to use its allotment elsewhere in the city.?

Kenney also took a dig at the Trump administration, saying, “imagine that, the White House is now actually trying to save lives. What a difference that makes.”?

A nurse picks up a Moderna Covid-19 vaccine that is ready to be administered at a vaccination site at Kedren Community Health Center in Los Angeles on February 16.

Nearly 70% of Americans are likely to get the vaccine as soon as it is available to them or have already gotten it, according to new poll results from Axios-Ipsos published Tuesday.?

The poll found that 68% of Americans said that they were likely to get the vaccine as soon as it was available, or have already gotten it.

The number of Americans saying they’re not at all likely to get the vaccine – 21% – remains essentially unchanged since January, but the number saying they’re not very likely to – 10% –?has decreased by nine points since earlier in the year, according to the poll conducted Feb. 26 to March 1 and based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,088 adults age 18 and up.?

People with a college degree and Democrats expressed the greatest interest in getting vaccinated.?

Nearly one-quarter – 23% – of respondents have gotten at least one vaccine dose, up from 19% last week and 3% in the Jan. 11 poll. Half – 53% – of those age 65 and older have gotten at least one shot.?

Higher rates of vaccination were reported by those who were college educated (29%), more affluent, with a $50,000 or higher household income (25%), and white (25%.) This can be compared to those with a high school education or less (16%), less affluent, with a household income lower than $50,000 (18%), or Black (19%) and Hispanic (17%).?

Three quarters of the respondents – 75% – also said that it’s very or somewhat important for teachers to get fully vaccinated before going back to school to teach.?

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a press briefing in New York on March 2.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for the state to expand vaccination eligibility to include sanitation workers, lifeguards, district attorneys, courtroom staff, board of elections staff, building inspectors and New York City Housing Authority frontline staff among others.?

“The state of New York is not keeping up with the need to update… these eligibility categories,” he said during a briefing Tuesday.

De Blasio also announced that in an effort to enhance equity of distribution of the vaccine, a new vaccination site will open in Co-Op city in the Bronx Thursday.

“The Bronx has been very hard hit by the Covid crisis,” he said adding the “Bronx is often overlooked.”

The city’s top health adviser Dr. Jay Varma discussed the variants during the briefing in an effort to quell concerns.

“There may be a?day when we have to do something different because of it, but right now so far the answer is clear; there’s nothing different we need people to do in New York,” he said.

New York City is tracking the spread of variants and also examining for new ones, with the capacity to sequence over two thousand specimens a week, he added.

New York City added 211 patients for suspected Covid-19 – which is “finally” getting close to the 200 threshold that the city desires, the mayor explained.?

The hospitalization rate is 4.3 per 100,000 people which is “still high” the mayor cautioned. The city added 3,558 confirmed and probable Covid cases, marking a 6.09% positivity?both on a 7 day rolling average.

More Americans are feeling hopeful about the pandemic now than over the last year, according to new poll results from Axios-Ipsos published on Tuesday.?

Nearly half — 48% — of Americans said hopeful best describes their mood today, up from only 20% who felt that way over the past year, according to the poll, which was conducted Feb. 26 to March 1 and based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,088 adults ages 18 and up.

This number goes up to 61% for those who have received at least one shot of vaccine.?

The most hopeful groups are people over 65, Democrats and people who have been vaccinated.?

This can be compared to feelings over the last year, when 41% of respondents said that “stressed/worried” were the words to best describe their mood. An equal percentage said they were frustrated. Twenty-six percent said that they felt “overwhelmed/burned out,” 19% angry and 16% “sad” or “discouraged.”?

“The negative emotions are still there, but they’re less prevalent than during the past year,” said Axios —?20% said that they were stressed or worried now.??

Looking back at the past year, Democrats were more likely to report feeling stressed or overwhelmed, compared with Republicans who were more likely to report frustration and anger.?

The poll also looked at how long people thought it would take for life to get back to normal.?

They found that 65% of respondents thought that it would take at least six months to start getting back to normal. An increasing minority — 33% — expect to return to something like normal, pre-coronavirus life within the next six months. This is up from 26% last week.?

A shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccine is unloaded in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 1.

Venezuela has received 500-thousand?doses of the Sinopharm vaccine developed by China, President Nicolás Maduro announced.

“With great joy I announce that at this moment 500 thousand doses of Covid-19 vaccines are arriving in Venezuela, from the People’s Republic of China. This is wonderful news that fills us with great hope. Soon, we will begin the mass vaccination of our people,” Maduro said on Twitter.

The vaccines, along with a load of medical supplies, such as masks and Covid-19 tests, landed at the Simón Bolivar Airport in Caracas late Monday night, the Venezuelan government reported.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Health approved the use of the Sinopharm vaccine on Monday.

This is the second shipment of vaccines to reach Venezuela, which received 100,000 of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in early February.

Venezuela is also in line to receive a share of vaccines through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program, but negotiations have stalled due to the political situation in the country. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which handles COVAX distribution in the Americas, has previously said Venezuela would receive their share of vaccines as soon as their payment and delivery processes are finalized.

Venezuela currently has at least 139,545 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 1,348 recorded deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo speaks during a press?conference on Monday, March 1.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo opposed the government’s proposal to impose a weekend lockdown in the French capital in an effort to fight the rise in Covid-19 cases.

“I disagreed with this proposal. A proposal that I find difficult, hard and even inhumane,” Hidalgo said in a televised address Monday.?

She offered softer proposals instead such as teaching classes outside during the week, in an effort to bring case numbers down.?

“We will make our playgrounds and public gardens available in an organized and secure way, which we can rearrange for this purpose,” she said.?

Government spokesperson Gabriel Attal has accused the Paris town hall of flip-flopping after a Paris deputy mayor advocated just last month for a strict three-week lockdown in Paris.?

The French Riviera and the metropolitan area of Dunkirk in northern France have been under weekend lockdowns since last Friday.??

President Emmanuel Macron is expected to hold a Defense council meeting Wednesday to discuss new restrictions.

The COVAX program will deliver 237 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to some 142 countries by the end of May, the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced today.?

COVAX is a program run by a coalition that includes the Vaccine Alliance known as Gavi and the World Health Organization (WHO), and is funded by donations from governments, multilateral institutions and foundations. Its mission is to buy coronavirus vaccines in bulk and send them to poorer nations that can’t compete with wealthy countries in securing contracts with the major drug companies.

During a virtual press briefing, Tedros said that when the history of the pandemic is written, Covax “will be one of its standout successes.”??

This week alone, COVAX will deliver a total of 11 million doses, according to Tedros.??

The vaccine rollout by the program is already underway, with Ghana and the Ivory Coast becoming the first countries to receive doses through COVAX last week, according to Tedros.

A patient receives a dose of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Nagykata, Hungary, on February 24.

The?European Union’s 27-nation?vaccine strategy?is splintering as member states turn to nations outside the bloc to boost a faltering rollout plagued by supply issues, contract skirmishes and sluggish takeup.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced Monday that he intends to work with Israel and Denmark on future vaccine production and cooperation around developing further shots to combat new coronavirus mutations. He will visit Israel with Danish leader Mette Frederiksen on Thursday.

The Austrian leader has been sharply critical of the EU’s vaccine strategy and the bloc’s regulator, the European Medicines Agency. The EU authorized the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in late December 2020, weeks after it had been granted approval in the UK and US.

Brussels has opted for a centralized approach to vaccine procurement and distribution but its plan has been hindered by supply and distribution problems. Only 5.5% of the EU’s population of 447 million has received a first vaccine dose, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The EMA has not yet given the green light to the Sputnik V vaccine. “The [Slovakia] approval is based on the results of the clinical trials of Sputnik V in Russia and a comprehensive assessment of the vaccine by experts in Slovakia,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which backed Sputnik V’s production, said Monday.

Read the full article here.

The first batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses are offloaded from a plane at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 2.

Nigeria today received nearly 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, its health ministry announced on social media.?

The country’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) said on Monday that Nigeria would take delivery of 3.92 million doses of the shot, the first arrival of a Covid-19 vaccine in Africa’s most populous nation.?

Nigeria is now the third West African country to receive the coronavirus vaccine – joining neighbors Ghana and Ivory Coast – which have all been supplied through the COVAX program.

COVAX is a global initiative that helps poorer and smaller countries gain access to Covid-19 vaccines.

Faisal Shuaib, who heads the NPHCDA, said in a statement Monday that Nigeria’s vaccine rollout would start “with critical healthcare workers, who are in the frontline.”

“We are fully prepared to receive and deliver the vaccine to eligible Nigerians as we have commenced the training of health workers and ensured that cold chain facilities are ready at all levels. We have a robust cold chain system that can store all types of Covid-19 vaccine in accordance with the required temperature,” Shuaib added.

In a follow-up statement on social media Monday, Shuaib said a website had been launched to register Nigerians for Covid-19 vaccination.

Nigeria plans to inoculate at least 70% of its population aged 18 and above. This, the NPHCDA said, would be done in four phases within two years.?

UNICEF’s representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, said more vaccines will be sent to the country – adding that the arrival of the first 3.92 million doses of the AstraZeneca shot was part of 16 million doses that were allocated earlier.

At least 156,017 Nigerians have been infected with Covid-19 and 1,915 have died from Covid-related complications, according to the country’s official count.?

Findings of a survey released last month by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and a national institute for medical research suggest that more Nigerians have had the coronavirus than official records show.?

Read more about COVAX here:

FILE - In this image taken from video on Tuesday Oct. 13, 2020, people work inside the UNICEF warehouse, the world's largest humanitarian aid warehouse, in Copenhagen, Denmark where the groundwork is being laid for the Covax initiative, led by the World Health Organization and the Gavi vaccine alliance. An IBM threat intelligence team said Thursday, Dec. 3 it detected a cyberespionage effort that used targeted phishing emails to try to collect sensitive information from organizations involved in the U.N. initiative for distributing COVID-19 vaccine to developing countries. (AP Photo)

Related article Why COVAX could become the most important acronym of 2021

An employee packs a box of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine into a cooler for shipping from pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corporation's facility, in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, on March 1.

President Biden is expected to announce later today that Merck & Co. will partner with Johnson & Johnson to help manufacture the company’s coronavirus vaccine, administration officials familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.

One official added that Biden will address it during his remarks at the White House this afternoon, hailing the partnership as a way to quickly jumpstart the sluggish vaccine production.

The planned partnership was first reported by The?Washington Post.

Merck is expected to dedicate two of its facilities to helping Johnson & Johnson, an administration official said, in a rare partnership between two competitors.

Merck had been working on developing its own Covid-19 vaccine, but discontinued its effort at the end of January after early studies showed immune responses were inferior to natural infection and other Covid-19 vaccines.

Workers hand out coronavirus testing kits in Bristol, England, on March 1, after three returning residents of a neighboring region were found to have been infected with the Covid-19 variant first detected in Brazil.

A coronavirus variant of concern first reported in Brazil, known as P.1,?may be up to 2.2 times more transmissible and could evade immunity from previous Covid-19 infection?by up to 61%, a new modelling study by researchers in Brazil?and the UK?suggests.?

The team sequenced viruses sampled from people infected with coronavirus?between November 2020 and January 2021?in Manaus,?where the new variant was first detected, and?found the proportion of?samples with this variant rose from 0 to 87% within seven weeks.?

They also?identified 17 mutations, including 10 in the surface spike protein, used by the virus to enter cells. Three of the mutations in the spike protein are linked to helping the virus bind to human cells. These?include?the?N501Y mutation also found in the variants first found in the UK and South Africa?and thought to help the virus bind more easily to human cells?and the?E484K mutation also found in the?South African variant, which is also thought to help the virus evade existing immune responses.??

When investigating how these changes affect the ability of the virus to cause infections, the?models created from the data showed the P.1 variant to be 1.4 to 2.2 times?more?transmissible?than other variants as well as the original coronavirus strain, and?25%?to 65% more likely to evade?existing?protective immunity from previous non-P.1 infections, making people?susceptible?to reinfection.??

The sampling also found that the emergence and circulation of the P.1 variant of concern was due to multiple introductions of the variant within the population.??

But he cautioned that “our results from Manaus should not be?generalized” to other contexts of variants of concern.?

“We need to see whether this is generalizable to other settings,”?said Sharon?Peacock, professor of public health and microbiology at the University of Cambridge. “This is relevant to where the study was done but we don’t know how that will pan out in other countries.”?

Six?cases?of the P.1 variant were?reported in the UK this week, with a manhunt underway to find one unidentified case.?The researchers commented that this is unlikely to cause a?surge in cases, adding that “you need many introductions to start an epidemic, so six is very few.”??

In the United States, 10 cases of the P.1 variant have been identified in five states – Alaska, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota and Oklahoma – according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz speaks at a news conference at the federal chancellery in Vienna on March 1.

Austria’s leader has announced that his country is looking to start closer cooperation with Israel and Denmark to further develop vaccines against Covid-19.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the effort aims to produce shots that are effective against coronavirus variants, as well as research new treatment methods, as reported by CNN’s Austrian affiliate, ?sterreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), a public broadcaster.?

Kurz?added that he will?visit Israel with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday.

The chancellor is due to meet?with Austrian pharmaceutical producers today, ahead of the Israel trip, his office said in a Tuesday press release.

According to ORF, Kurz criticized the European Union’s authorization process, saying access via the bloc “was principally the right thing to do, but the European Medicines Agency is too slow in terms of authorization of pharmaceutical companies.”

Frederiksen echoed a similar message, saying on Danish state TV on Monday that: “The European vaccine effort can no longer stand alone.”

The Danish Prime Minister pointed out that this is the reason that the countries?are cooperating.

“We must have vaccine production skyrocketing. One of the partners I believe in a lot is Israel,” she added.?“All countries that have vaccines in surplus – we would like to buy them.”

For Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,?vaccinating all Mexicans?is a matter of responsible national health policy as well as social justice.

“Vaccines will start arriving little by little,” he said on February 15, during his daily morning press conference, a week after returning to public activities after contracting Covid-19.

“Today we launched our vaccination plan and it won’t stop. We will press ahead with the goal of vaccinating all the people, according to pre-established priorities,” the President added.

But there are already clear signs that not every Mexican is ready or willing to get a shot in the arm.

In?Aldama, a small town of about 7,000 located in the central highlands of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, some people say they will not get vaccinated, regardless of any vaccination plan or where the vaccine comes from.

“Why would I get vaccinated? I’m not sick. It wouldn’t be good if they tried to force us to get vaccinated. I don’t know,” said María Magdalena López Santís, an Aldama resident to CNN in broken Spanish.

This time, it seems a lack of information and conspiracy theories that have spread in the region like wildfire are to blame for vaccine hesitancy.

Read the full story here:

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Carlos López/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock (11752435a) View of daily life in the indigenous town of San Juan Cancuc, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, 07 February 2021 (issued 09 February 2021). San Juan Cancuc has become one of the first Mexican towns to distance itself from the federal immunization plan against covid-19. 'Here people do not want to be vaccinated because it can have negative effects. Not even older adults want to' said Sebastián Santis, one of its inhabitants, on 09 February. Located in the mountains of the Altos area of the southeastern state of Chiapas, the municipality is mainly populated by Tzeltal Mayans. San Juan Cancuc, the Mexican indigenous town which refuses to be vaccinated out of fear, Mexico - 09 Feb 2021

Related article Whole towns are refusing Covid-19 vaccines in Mexico

A nurse fills a syringe with the Sputnik V shot at a vaccination site in Moscow on February 17.

More than 60% of?Russians?said they are not ready to get a shot of the Sputnik V vaccine, and about the same number believe Covid-19 is of an artificial origin, according to the results of a survey released?Monday by?independent pollster Levada-Center.?

According to Levada, which conducted the poll in late February, 62% of?Russians?surveyed said they?don’t want to?be?vaccinated with Sputnik V. Only 30% said they would, compared to 38% in December.

The main reasons stated by respondents against getting the vaccine were concerns over side effects (37%?of those not ready for vaccination) or wanting to wait until the trials are complete (23%). Another 16% of respondents said they “don’t see any point” in getting vaccinated. In December 2020, fewer people feared side effects (29%), and more were waiting for the trials to finish (30%).

The survey, which queried 1,601 people in 50 regions via in-person interviews, also found that 64% of people thought the theory?that the new coronavirus was created artificially?as a biological weapon was more probable than its natural origin, which only 23% believed.?

The origins of novel coronavirus became?highly politicized last year, and many conspiracy theories?have arisen in the US, Russia and elsewhere about the origins of the virus in humans.?

In China, for instance, officials and state media have promoted the idea that the coronavirus may have emerged from a lab, and US politicians and conspiracists have pushed the idea that a Chinese lab might have been responsible.?

The World Health Organization?team that went to Wuhan, China last month to explore the origins of the virus said the version that the virus emerged from a lab is highly unlikely and is not being investigated further.

There are now three Covid-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration, manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. All three will be distributed across the United States.

Many people are wondering which Covid-19 vaccine they should get: Is one better for certain groups of people? Given how many people still can’t get any vaccine, will people have a choice? If so, which vaccine should they choose?

We asked CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen for her advice. Wen is an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Wen is also a volunteer participant in the Johnson & Johnson clinical trial, though she doesn’t know yet whether she received the vaccine or placebo.

Can you explain the differences between the three FDA-authorized vaccines? What do we know about their safety and efficacy?

Dr. Leana Wen:?The vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were authorized first, back in December. They are similar to one another in that they are both developed using the?mRNA platform. The?Johnson & Johnson vaccine?has just been authorized. It uses a different way of stimulating an immune response, with an inactivated cold virus. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both require two shots. Johnson & Johnson has just been authorized as a one-dose vaccine.

All three vaccines have very favorable safety profiles, meaning that they are all very safe, when tested in tens of thousands of people. All three are virtually 100% in clinical trials at preventing hospitalizations and deaths, which is the endpoint that we really care about.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines appear to be more effective at preventing mild to moderate disease, about 95%. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is about 72% effective, based on US trials. However, these results should not be compared directly, because the trials were not done as head-to-head comparisons.

Why not? You can see why people would look at those numbers and say, 95% versus 72%? I’ll take the one that’s 95%.

Dr. Leana Wen: This is an understandable concern. Here are three reasons why this is not the right comparison.

First, the vaccines were studied at different time periods. The Pfizer and Moderna studies were done before these more concerning variants became a major factor.

Second, one the main locations where the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was studied was South Africa, where the predominant variant at the time of the study was the B.1.351 variant. There is substantial concern that none of the vaccines we have may work as well against this variant.

For the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it appears that it, too, is less effective against the South African variant. However, it’s still very effective. Even in South Africa, the vaccine prevented 82% of severe disease (compared to 86% in the United States).

Third, let’s remember that the the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a one-dose vaccine. This simplifies logistics substantially to not have to make second appointments and allocate second doses.

Read more vaccine answers from Dr. Wen here:

A health care worker administers the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at the Bible-Based Fellowship Church on February 13 in Tampa, Florida.

Related article Which Covid-19 vaccine should I get? Dr. Wen weighs in

An employee wears a protective mask and face shield while overseeing the craps table at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in July 2020.

More than?200?commercial and tribal?casinos –?including every casino in New Jersey – reopened their doors as ‘smoke free’ on Monday, the US Centers?for?Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

Before?the coronavirus pandemic, this kind of public health?momentum?in?casinos?would not have been possible, Brian King of the?CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health said during the?CDC’s weekly partner call.

All?casinos?in New Jersey, which includes Atlantic City, have adopted?smoke-free?policies, King said.

“Seeing that implementation of a broad public health policy in this environment at the state level of a major hub?for?gambling and?casinos?is very important,” King said.?“It’s definitely a public health win and shows an added benefit of not only protecting workers but also patrons.”

The question remains if these?casinos?will remain?smoke-free?when other restrictions ease and more people become vaccinated.?

“If all these?casinos?remain smoke free even post?Covid-19, this could have an immeasurable in terms of not only protecting the public who attend these venues, but also workers who are working eight hours or more per day in these environments,” King added.?

A doctor prepares a dose of the Oxford-Astra-Zeneca vaccine at a vaccination unit in London on February 28.

A single dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines reduces the risk of hospitalization from Covid-19 by more than 80% in people aged over 80, new data from Public Health England (PHE) shows.

The effect was seen three to four weeks after vaccination.

People aged over 70 were also shown to have up to 61% protection against symptomatic disease from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and up to 73% from the Oxford-Astra-Zeneca vaccine.

“This adds to growing evidence showing that the vaccines are working to reduce infections and save lives,” Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of immunization at PHE, said in a press release.?

During a press conference on Monday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock hailed the real-world data, highlighting that the UK’s daily number of deaths is decreasing “much faster” than in the first peak, and it’s “falling faster in the over 80s who got the jab first than in the under 80s.”

The UK has administered Covid-19 shots to more than 20 million people, with campaigns first targeting the over-80s who are most vulnerable to the disease.?

The new data supports the country’s decision to use both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines at a time when other countries in Europe showed concern about using the AstraZeneca shot in older people.

“These findings are particularly welcome news due to the age range of the participants who were all aged 70 and over,” said?Deborah Dunn-Walters, chair of the British Society for Immunology COVID-19 and Immunology Taskforce, and Professor of Immunology at the University of Surrey.??

“Previous clinical trials for both vaccines have not included many individuals from this age range. This is important because as we get older, our immune systems don’t function as well as they did when we were younger, meaning that older people sometimes produce lower immune responses to vaccination,” she said.

But Ramsay stressed the need for people to stay vigilant with measures such as social distancing and hand washing.

“It is important to remember that protection is not complete and we don’t yet know how much these vaccines will reduce the risk of you passing Covid-19 onto others,” she said.

Data?released last week?by PHE from studies in health workers?found that one dose of the vaccine prevented people from catching asymptomatic Covid-19 by at least 70%, which suggests the vaccines may help to reduce the spread of infection, but more data is needed.

The UK is increasing the rate of second doses being administered, with just over 800,000 now inoculated with both shots.

A nurse administers a Covid-19 vaccine at a community vaccination center in Hong Kong, on February 26.

China plans to inoculate 40% of its population with Covid-19 vaccines by the end of June, respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan has revealed.???

“Today I asked my CDC friends about China’s (vaccination) plan and they replied that (China is) planning to reach 40% by the end of June,” said Zhong on Monday at a panel hosted by Tsinghua University and the Brookings Institution.

With a population of 1.4 billion, 40% represents about 548 million people. China has only vaccinated 3.56% of its population — roughly 51 million people — so far, Zhong said.

He added that it could take at least three years to reach any kind of herd immunity.

However, Wu Zunyou of the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention said if existing vaccination rates continue, China and the US could be the first countries to open up travel.

A bottle of hydroxychloroquine at Rock Canyon Pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 20, 2020.

A panel of World Health Organization experts has strongly advised against using hydroxychloroquine to prevent Covid-19 after reviewing all existing studies on the subject.?

The panel announced the recommendation in the BMJ medical journal on Monday, as part of the first version of WHO’s?living guideline for drugs to prevent Covid-19.?

The panel concluded with high certainty that taking hydroxychloroquine does not prevent hospitalization or death from Covid-19. The panel also recommended that researchers studying hydroxychloroquine as means of Covid-19 prevention — also known as prophylaxis — consider ending their trials.?

Trump’s claims: Hydroxychloroquine is typically used to treat autoimmune diseases and to prevent malaria, but early in the pandemic?it?was touted by former US President Donald Trump?as a “game-changer,” prompting a flurry of clinical trials and a bump in sales of the pills. But many studies later showed the drug was not helpful in treating coronavirus patients and also did nothing to prevent infection.

The panel’s recommendation is based on six studies that included more than 6,000 participants. Three of the trials included volunteers who had a known exposure to Covid-19.?

Emergency use: The US Food and Drug Administration revoked its emergency use authorization for use of the drug against coronavirus last year, and the National Institutes of Health stopped its research.

An employee with the McKesson Corporation packs a box of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines for shipping in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, on March 1.

The first single-dose Covid-19 vaccine has been authorized for use in the United States after advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unanimously?voted to recommend the Johnson & Johnson?shot for Americans 18 and older.

Distribution of the vaccine began Sunday night, right after CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky officially rubber-stamped the authorization.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a bit different than the two already in use in the US. Most importantly, it only requires one dose and is easier to handle, because it can be kept at simple refrigerator temperatures for up to three months. That makes its rollout a lot easier compared to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

The technology is different too. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a brand-new technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA. They deliver genetic material directly into cells, which then follow the genetic instructions to make tiny pieces that look like a part of the coronavirus.

Those little proteins stimulate an immune response, generating antibodies and immune cells that “remember” what they look like and that will be ready to respond quickly in case of a fresh attack.

The?Johnson & Johnson vaccine?uses viral vector technology. A common cold virus called adenovirus 26 is genetically engineered so it can infect cells, but won’t replicate there. It cannot spread in the body, and won’t give people a cold. Like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, it delivers genetic instructions.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has shown efficacy of 72% in the US and offered 86% protection against severe forms of the disease in the country. Moderna’s and Pfizer efficacy rate in clinical trials was 94% to 95%.

A version of this story appeared in the March 1 edition of CNN’s Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction newsletter.?Sign up here to receive the need-to-know headlines every weekday.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks during a news conference at the Queen Theater on December 8, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware.

The US risks losing its recent gains in the battle against Covid-19 as?highly contagious variants?take advantage of Americans getting lax with safety measures.

After weeks of?tumbling case numbers, new infections are on the rise again — about 2% more this past week compared to the previous week, Walensky said Monday.

“Similarly, the most recent seven-day average of deaths has also increased more than 2% … to nearly 2,000 deaths per day,” she added.

Walensky also called out states easing up on Covid-19 safety mandates.

“I am really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from Covid-19,” she said.

“Please stay strong in your conviction. Continue wearing your well-fitting mask and taking the other public health prevention actions that we know work.

“Ultimately, vaccination is what will bring us out of this pandemic. To get there, we need to vaccinate many more people.”