For this week's magazine, my colleague Alice Park wrote about one of the most important questions of this moment: Can the U.S. improve its disappointing vaccine rollout?
Even in the 35 hours since the story was published yesterday, the stakes have gotten higher. We learned today that more than 4,000 people in the U.S. died from COVID-19 yesterday, the highest single-day toll so far. Given that horrifying statistic; the fact that well over 200,000 people get infected almost every day; and the spread of new, extra-transmissible viral variants, there's no time to waste when it comes to distributing vaccines.
The campaign's first few weeks, however, have not been encouraging. Despite U.S. officials' promises to vaccinate 20 million Americans by the end of 2020, only about 5 million people had received their first doses as of yesterday.
In some areas, providers have gotten fewer doses than they expected; in others, they've received more vials than they can reasonably use given current rules around who can get these early-round vaccines, which has reportedly led some providers to throw out unused vials for fear of violating strict state eligibility requirements. Human error, holiday schedules and the predictable growing pains of launching a massive new vaccination system have also contributed to the lags.
As those issues clear up, rollout may improve, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told Alice. "I would give it another week or two to see if we catch up and gain momentum. If we do, I think we're going to be O.K," Fauci said. "If not, then I'll say there is a problem here."
The trouble is, the public-health network will be trying to gain momentum at the same time it faces new challenges—not just from record deaths and hospitalizations, but also those inherent to the vaccination campaign. States are beginning to expand vaccine access to larger and larger groups of people. Soon, it will be time to start vaccinating the entire general public, a massive effort that will bring even more challenges.
There are signs that the incoming Biden Administration will take a different approach. CNN reports that Biden plans to circulate all available vaccine doses right away, as opposed to the Trump Administration's policy of conserving some to save as second doses for people who have already gotten their first dose.
In the coming weeks, we'll find out if that's enough to help pick up the pace on vaccination.
Preliminary, not-yet-peer-reviewed research suggests the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine protects against two mutated strains of the virus first identified in the U.K. and South Africa, respectively. Almost as soon as these variants were first reported, people began questioning whether they could evade existing vaccines. The new data may provide some relief. The study shows, at least in a lab dish, antibodies produced by people vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot fended off manufactured versions of the new viral strains.
In other promising-but-early vaccine news, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said yesterday that his company's shot—which was authorized today by U.K. regulators—could offer protection against COVID-19 "potentially for a couple of years." One of the big, unanswered questions about the new vaccines is how long they can prevent COVID-19 disease. Moderna still doesn't have conclusive evidence to prove Bancel's point, but his comments provide some cautious optimism that the vaccines are fairly long-lasting.
European Union regulators decided today that health care workers may draw up to six doses from each of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine vials, potentially expanding the bloc's vaccine supplies. Initially, the vials were said to hold only five doses, but people administering the shots quickly realized some held more than that.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 88 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and nearly 1.9 million people have died. On Jan. 7, there were 856,222 new cases and 14,769 new deaths confirmed globally.
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 1.5 million confirmed cases:
In a callback to this time last year, China has placed the major city of Shijiazhuang, a provincial capital close to Beijing, on lockdown. The city's 11 million residents must stay in place, as highways and transit hubs have been shut down. The lockdown was triggered after 117 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Shijiazhuang on Wednesday.
Australia has also placed a major city, Brisbane, under lockdown—but in Australia, the decision came after a single case was reported. The infected person is reportedly a cleaner who works in a hotel where people quarantine after travel. The lockdown will last three days.
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" in the city today, with infection rates surging high enough that an estimated 1 in 30 Londoners has COVID-19. England is already under lockdown. Major incident declarations, which have previously been enacted after terrorist attacks, mean the city's emergency services must make special arrangements to deal with a threat.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has banned the importation of COVID-19 vaccines from the U.S. and U.K., citing the countries' high death tolls as reason not to trust the shots they've developed, Al Jazeera reports. "If the Americans had managed to manufacture a vaccine, this coronavirus fiasco wouldn't have happened in their own country," Khamenei said in a televised speech today. Iran previously had plans to import at least 150,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 21.5 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 365,000 people have died. On Jan. 7, there were 274,703 new cases and 4,085 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
And here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
Individuals in Connecticut, Texas and Pennsylvania have now been infected with a new COVID-19 variant thought to be extra contagious, bringing the U.S.' total number of cases related to the new strain up to at least 56 across eight states, according to the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Most of the newly infected individuals did not have a recent history of international travel, which suggests the new variant is circulating within the U.S.
As California continues to weather a brutal COVID-19 surge, the Los Angeles Timesreports that some California testing sites are using a product known to produce false-negative results. The oral swabs made by startup Curative are wrong often enough that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends using them only on individuals who have symptoms of COVID-19—suggesting that they may not be sensitive enough to pick up on asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infections.
The National Basketball Association was widely praised last year for its COVID-19 containment "bubble." Outside the bubble, however, disease control has proved harder, with dozens of positive test results among players and other NBA personnel already reported. Now, the entire Philadelphia 76ers team is reportedly quarantined after guard Seth Curry received a positive test result during last night's game against the Brooklyn Nets. Curry left the arena to enter isolation, and the 76ers will reportedly begin testing and contact tracing today, ESPN reports.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Jan. 8, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Some Doctors Are Struggling to Get Vaccinated
Hospitals have for weeks been sharing celebratory photos of their staff members getting vaccinated. But for health care workers who aren't based in hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports, tracking down shots can be tricky. Read more here.
New Concerns About Air Travel
If you've avoided flying during the pandemic, a new study may offer some validation. During an 18-hour flight from the United Arab Emirates to New Zealand, the paper says, at least four people got infected with COVID-19. Read more here.
What Long Flu Can Teach Us About Long COVID
Many COVID-19 survivors experience symptoms long after they "recover" from their illness. As 1918 influenza pandemic expert Laura Spinney writes for TIME, something very similar happened to many flu survivors. 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.
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Today's newsletter was written by Jamie Ducharme and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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