A quick programming note: the TIME Coronavirus Brief will be off tomorrow and Friday for the holiday weekend. We hope that you find some time to rest, rejuvenate and connect with loved ones—in a safe, socially distanced manner, of course—and we’ll be back with you on Monday.
More Vaccines Coming, More Work to Be Done
Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the U.S. with an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine by the end of July 2021 under the terms of a new deal. That’s on top of the 100 million doses the pharma companies have already pledged to the U.S.—and it’s only a drop in the bucket, in terms of the U.S.’ total vaccine purchases.
In total, Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the government initiative funding vaccine development and distribution, has agreed to buy a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses from six different manufacturers: Pfizer-BioNTech (200 million), Moderna (200 million), AstraZeneca (300 million), Johnson & Johnson (100 million), Novavax (100 million) and Sanofi-GlaxoSmithKline (100 million).
Why did the government agree to buy a billion doses when only about 330 million people live in the U.S.? There are a few reasons.
For one thing, all of the COVID-19 vaccine candidates except Johnson & Johnson’s are supposed to be given in two separate doses. So 100 million shots would be enough to fully vaccinate 50 million people.
More significantly, most of the contracts were signed before federal regulators had any idea which shots, if any, would turn out to be safe and effective. (Even now, the Food and Drug Administration has only granted emergency-use authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots; the jury’s still out on the rest.) By committing to buy a diverse array of vaccines, OWS was trying to guarantee the U.S. would have access to those that turned out to work best as soon as they were available.
That’s paid off so far: Both Pfizer and Moderna were ready to ship out millions of doses very shortly after getting the agency’s green light. And, on the flip side, it’s proven wise not to pin all of our hopes on one vaccine. Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, for example, have hit delays that mean their joint vaccine won’t be ready for deployment until the second half of 2021, if it’s ever approved at all.
The U.S. vaccination campaign still has a long way to go. As of today, more than 9.4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines had been distributed and more than 1 million people in the U.S.—a tiny fraction of the population—had gotten their first doses. It’s hard to say exactly how many people need to get vaccinated to stop the spread of COVID-19, but experts have estimated that the number could be as high as 80% of the population. It will take months of effort, and millions more doses, to reach that point.
Securing 100 million more shots is one more big step forward.
VACCINE TRACKER
CoronaVac, the vaccine developed by Chinese biotech company Sinovac, was found to be at least 50% effective—and possibly up to 95% effective—at preventing COVID-19 disease in Brazilian clinical trials, the Wall Street Journal reports. Brazilian investigators are the first to complete Phase 3 trials of the Chinese vaccine, which can be stored in standard refrigerators and thus could be a promising option for developing countries without access to ultra-cold storage. Sinovac will reportedly submit the trial results to regulators in Brazil and China today.
Next week, India may become the first country in the world to authorize AstraZeneca’s vaccine, the Times of India reports. India is also considering authorizations for the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Indian company Bharat Biotech (which is conducting Phase 3 trials), but AstraZeneca’s shot is especially promising because it is relatively inexpensive and easy to store. It looks to be about 70% effective, according to Phase 3 clinical trial data.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 78 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 1.7 million people have died. On Dec. 22, there were 646,791 new cases and 14,459 new deaths confirmed globally.
Editor's note: On Nov. 25, Turkey changed its policy to include asymptomatic cases in its daily numbers. On Dec. 10, the country provided a large case dump to bring the total historical reporting in line with this new standard. However, the data are not yet available to accurately distribute this increase retroactively. The result is a significant anomaly that impacts the charts and maps both for Turkey, and, due to the country’s large case numbers, the world.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here is every country with over 1 million confirmed cases:
COVID-19 has officially reached every continent, now that the Chilean army has reported 36 cases of the disease in its Antarctic Peninsula research station. A few days ago, Chile confirmed that several travelers aboard a ship that brought supplies to the research station tested positive. Now, at least 26 military personnel and 10 maintenance workers at the Antarctica facility have the virus.
France has agreed to reopen its border with the U.K., as long as travelers coming from the U.K. into France show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within the 72 hours prior to departure. The border, which initially closed following reports of an extra-contagious strain of COVID-19 spreading in the U.K., is crucial for trade routes. Its closure left truckers stranded and raised concerns about potential food shortages in the U.K.
Many countries, however, continue to enforce travel restrictions related to the U.K. New York City officials said today that sheriff deputies will pay house and hotel calls to people who arrive in the city from the U.K., to ensure travelers comply with quarantine policies. And the U.K. itself is under strict lockdown measures, as case counts increase by roughly 6% each day. People in some parts of England could be under the strictest lockdown possible, which restricts travel and keeps all non-essential businesses closed, until Easter.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 18.2 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 322,000 people have died. On Dec. 22, there were 195,033 new cases and 3,401 new deaths confirmed in the U.S. Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
Congressional Democrats and Republicans finally reached a deal on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill this week after a long, bitter negotiation process—but in a video posted on Twitter last night, U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the plan for providing only $600 to most Americans. He argued payments should increase to $2,000 and urged lawmakers to “get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill.” Some Democrats, who pushed for a larger relief package from the start, actually welcomed Trump’s suggestion of $2,000 checks. “Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote on Twitter. “Let’s do it!” Still, Trump’s last-minute objection could make it difficult to pass a plan before Dec. 30, when some existing relief measures expire.
COVID-19 made 2020 the deadliest year in U.S. history, the Associated Press reports. Preliminary mortality data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest more than 3.2 million people in the U.S. will have died from all causes by the time 2020 ends—about 400,000 more deaths than last year, and the first time that total has ever topped 3 million. More than 320,000 deaths in the U.S. have been officially attributed to COVID-19 so far this year.
A 69-year-old man who died last week after a medical emergency on a flight from Orlando, Fla. to Los Angeles had COVID-19, a coroner confirmed yesterday. United Airlines said that the man had affirmed that he had neither tested positive for COVID-19 nor experienced symptoms of it before boarding the flight, but it’s unclear whether he or his wife, who was traveling with him, knew that he had been exposed to the virus. With millions of Americans set to travel this week for the holidays, the incident may raise new concerns about the safety of air travel during the pandemic.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Dec. 23, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Allure of Internet Boyfriends
TIME’s Raisa Bruner discovered a new kind of dating during the pandemic: 100% virtual relationships, that may or may not ever result in an in-person relationship—or even a date. Here, she writes about why that’s not such a bad thing. Read more here.
Inoculating a Country That Doesn’t Value Vaccines
Just 30% of people in Japan strongly agree that vaccines are safe, effective and important, research shows. That means Japan—for all its COVID-19 successes—may be in for a difficult winter ahead, the Japan Times reports. Read more here.
How to Have a Happy Holiday Alone
Writer Stephanie Foo, a de facto orphan since her teens, has powerful words in the New York Times for anyone celebrating the holidays without loved ones for the first time: You’re not alone if you have yourself. Read more here.
Don't Call the Pandemic a Setback for Feminism
The pandemic has forced many women out of the workforce, leading some to declare it a "disaster for feminism." But as author Koa Beck writes for TIME, that obscures the reality that feminism too often implicitly refers to the rights of wealthy white women. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
If you were forwarded this and want to sign up to receive it daily, click here.
Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
沒有留言:
張貼留言