To Vaccinate U.S. Veterans, Health Care Workers Must Cross Mountains, Plains and Tundra
If you’d asked me a year ago, I would not have bet that there’d be two highly effective vaccines available in the U.S. by the end of 2020. The pace of technological development in vaccine science has proven astounding. Given that, it’s a bit shocking to take in the reality that the U.S. is struggling with something that seems much more pedestrian: delivering vaccine doses to everyone who needs them.
Over the last year, the coronavirus has crept into every nook and cranny of the U.S., making it necessary for public health officials to be equally thorough in distributing vaccines. Unfortunately, some of the Americans who are the most vulnerable to the virus are also the most difficult to reach; for instance, Los Angeles’ homeless population has been devastated by the virus, but they often have little access to vaccine enrollment systems, since they are primarily online. Elsewhere, outbreaks in rural communities have taxed rural health care systems, while the fragility of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines make them difficult to transport to remote areas.
These challenges have come to a head for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, which is working to vaccinate 2.7 million “rural” and “highly rural” veterans enrolled in VA healthcare, many of whom are older than 65 and do not have access to the internet, according to recent reporting by Patricia Kime for TIME. To tackle this problem, the VA has come up with creative solutions, including chartering small planes to reach remote corners of the country; in Alaska, for example, the VA booked a commercial flight to bring health care providers and vaccine supplies to Kodiak Island off the south coast.
In 2020, Americans were more cut off from each other than ever before. In some ways, this distance was literal— passenger airline traffic dropped to the lowest rate in 36 years, and many Americans stayed home to protect each other from COVID-19. In other ways, this distance has been metaphorical; Americans have been bitterly divided about the importance of wearing face masks, and the legitimacy of the presidential election, among many other issues.
However, the effort to give as many Americans as possible access to vaccines should be a reminder that we all depend on each other. Achieving herd immunity requires thousands of others to develop, produce, ship and deliver vaccines, and millions of others to show up and get the shots, or mask up and stay home while they’re waiting. When COVID-19 is ultimately defeated in the U.S., it will not only be the result of major acts of heroism, but thanks to countless little decisions Americans made to serve the greater good.
48.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, while about 40.3 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker—representing 12.1% of the overall U.S. population who have received at least one dose. About 4.7% of Americans have gotten their second dose.
Although giants like China and the U.S. have led the vaccine development race, a surprising country is now poised to debut its own shot: Cuba. As the New York Times reports , scientists from the island nation, which has long prided itself on its sophisticated health care sector, are about to bring a home-grown vaccine, called “Sovereign 2,” to the final phase of testing. If it proves safe and effective, it could enable Cuba to vaccinate its entire population; the country also hopes to export its vaccine to poorer countries, which have largely been left out of the current phase of global vaccination. Cuba believes that it could produce enough Sovereign 2 doses to even invite tourists to get the shot.
Although 960,000 U.S. military personnel and contractors have been vaccinated, that number belies a concerning truth: a third of eligible U.S. troops have opted not to receive the shots. The Pentagon said yesterday, per the New York Times. The rate of vaccine refusal is slightly higher than among civilians; Department of Defense officials said they are working to determine the demographics of troops who are refusing the vaccines, and that the military will continue to communicate the vaccines’ effectiveness.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 109.9 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 2.4 million people have died. On Feb. 17, there were 393,682 new cases and 11,299 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:
There is evidence that vaccines are starting to reduce the number of people dying from COVID-19 in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said earlier today . More than 95% of residents in Scottish care homes are at least partially vaccinated, according to the Scottish government, and the number of coronavirus related deaths in such facilities has dropped 62% over the past three weeks. That, Sturgeon said, gives her “quite strong confidence” that vaccines are working.
China has been promoting scientifically unproven theories to explain the emergence of COVID-19, deflecting criticism by experts and leaders from other countries, including the U.S., that the nation did not respond quickly enough to stop the initial spread of the virus, CNN reports. The country’s chief epidemiologist, Dr. Zeng Guang, suggested last week that the U.S. be “the focus” in the effort to trace the virus.
The Vatican is taking a hard line in favor of vaccines. The city-state decreed Feb. 8 that any of its 5,000 employees can be sanctioned or fired for refusing a vaccine without a proven medical reason, noting that refusing to get vaccinated “can constitute a risk for others,” the AP reports. Pope Francis himself has received both of his required doses, and has said others have a moral obligation to do the same.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. recorded more than 27.8 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 490,000 people have died. On Feb. 17, there were 68,419 new cases and 2,366 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:
While 2020 was a painful year for many people, we’re just starting to get a full picture of the devastation caused by the pandemic. This morning, the National Center for Health Statistics cast light on some of that reality: a new report shows that the life expectancy in the U.S. dropped by a full year during the first six months of 2020. The decrease was even greater for men, and people of color: the life expectancy for Black men dropped three years, and by 2.4 years for Hispanic men. The drop in life expectancy was driven not only by deaths from COVID-19, but by a surge in drug overdose deaths.
Cases may be down in the U.S., but the pandemic has continued to devastate the economy. The number of initial jobless claims rose for the second week in a row during the week ending Feb. 13; about 861,000 claims were filed last week, an increase of 13,000 from the week before, according to data published by the Department of Labor today.
A million counterfeit N95 masks were seized yesterday, bringing the count of fraudulent masks seized over the last few weeks in the U.S. to 11 million, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, said yesterday.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Feb. 18, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The U.K. Announced Human Challenge Trials
Yesterday, British health officials announced a study in which healthy volunteers will be infected with the coronavirus. My colleague Alice Park explains why scientists think this is a good idea. Read more here.
A Warning Sign From Japan
Japan is reporting a disturbing increase in suicides among women, which may be a warning sign for countries that have yet to release data from 2020, the BBC reports. The trend may reflect the toll the pandemic has taken on women, leaving many in dire financial situations and others trapped living with abusive partners. Read more here.
Shortages Left Force Doctors to Make Dire Choices
A therapy known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can help to save lives threatened by COVID-19. However, shortages have forced doctors to choose between patients eligible for the therapy, and led some patients to die on waitlists, ProPublica reports. 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 Tara Law and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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