At the moment, at least two big problems are plaguing the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine rollout. First, in many places, it's still a pain to get an appointment—I've spent the past week helping my best friend try to schedule one in Queens, N.Y., and was finally successful only this morning. Second, some people aren't showing up for their slot as scheduled—in some cases these are people who booked multiple appointments and forgot to cancel the extras, but sometimes things come up and people can't make it. But because each dose has a limited shelf life once a vial is opened, every missed appointment could mean another shot headed for the trash instead of an arm.
What if we could kill both birds with one stone? That's the thinking behind Dr. B, which aims to serve as a national vaccine standby list. Users can enter their name, risk factors and contact info, and if a vaccine dose is available at the last-minute somewhere nearby, they'll get a text message offering them the chance to claim it. Anybody can sign up for Dr. B, but users in the highest-priority groups get first dibs.
Currently, there’s nothing else like it; many individual vaccination sites have their own standby lists, though they're often informal and manually-run. So far, states have largely focused their efforts on getting people to sign up for specific appointment slots, rather than figuring out what to do in the case of no-shows.
Dr. B launched in January and spread only through word of mouth until this week. Dr. B founder Cyrus Massoumi, the former CEO of appointment-booking site Zocdoc, told me in a recent interview that this was an intentional decision, as the team wanted to prioritize demographic groups that are so far being underserved in the vaccine rollout. "Our mission is both to increase the efficiency of health care, specifically the COVID vaccine, but also the equity of it," Massoumi told me.
The effort is still in "early innings," as Massoumi put it—more than 1 million people have signed up, but only two vaccine providers are on board: one in New York, and another in Arkansas. But hundreds of other providers in dozens of states have expressed interest in joining up. And while people may be understandably skeptical of handing over their contact and health information to a fledgling startup, Dr. B—which Massoumi is self-funding and is free to both users and providers—promises that it will never sell user data. While I'm not yet eligible for a vaccine here in New Jersey, I went ahead and signed up just in case—in my thinking, the sooner I can get myself a shot, the better, both for myself and those around me.
About 123.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which 93.6 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. Approximately 18.6% of the overall U.S. population has received at least one dose, and about 9.7% of Americans have gotten both doses.
The Biden Administration is set to announce today the purchase of another 100 million doses of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, the New York Times reports. While the U.S. has already secured enough doses of the three currently authorized vaccines to cover every American adult by May, the extra orders may be used to vaccinate children (if the shot is deemed safe and effective for them) or as booster shots (if those are deemed necessary).
Speaking of kids: approximately 600 children between the ages of 12 and 16 have been given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Israel with no serious side effects so far, the Guardian reports. This wasn’t part of a formal trial; Israel has approved vaccinating younger people with underlying conditions. But the results are nonetheless a promising sign that at least one of the existing vaccines will end up being safe for children. Whether the shots are effective in children, however, remains to be seen.
Europe is set to receive 4 million more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this month, Reuters reports, enough to vaccinate 2 million people. That news comes as Europe has struggled to quickly vaccinate large numbers of residents, in part because of supply issues. "To tackle aggressive variants of the virus and to improve the situation in hotspots, quick and decisive action is necessary,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 117.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 2.6 million people have died. On March 9, there were 413,530 new cases and 10,065 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 2 million confirmed cases:
As the COVID-19 outbreak appears increasingly under control in the U.S. and elsewhere, it's exploding at alarming rates in Brazil, which is now reporting the most daily new cases and deaths in the world. In part, the tragedy there is being driven by a new viral variant that appears both more contagious and better able to reinfect those who already had the disease, the Wall Street Journal reports. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has also been criticized for failing to adequately address the crisis earlier on.
Hospitals are overwhelmed and intensive care units are at maximum capacity in some parts of the West Bank as the COVID-19 outbreak there worsens, Reuters reports. Palestinian areas have been under strict lockdown for weeks to curb the spread of the virus, in stark contrast to life in many parts of Israel, where a sense of normalcy has returned thanks largely to rapid mass vaccination. "The number of casualties is increasing and the number of deaths is increasing on a daily basis, forcing us to take strict, direct and unprecedented measures," Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said at a press conference yesterday.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. recorded more than 29 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 527,000 people have died. On March 9, there were 55,909 new cases and 1,891 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:
The U.S. House of Representatives today approved Congress’ latest COVID-19 relief bill on a vote of 220-211; it had no Republican support, while one Democrat dissented. The package, which includes another round of $1,400 stimulus checks, extended federal unemployment benefits and an expanded child tax credit, is expected to be signed into law Friday. The checks could start arriving in Americans’ bank accounts later this month.
Texas' mask mandate, which was enacted in July, ends today—putting some businesses in a tough spot, as those that want customers to keep masking up no longer have a state measure in place to back up their rules. However, one top law enforcement official argues that existing laws could be used to keep people from violating businesses' mask requirements. "If a business asks an individual to wear the mask and they refuse to leave, they can be arrested for criminal trespass," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said on CNBC last night. It's unclear, however, if that reasoning would hold up in court.
While COVID-19 was far more prevalent among non-white Americans under 25 than their white counterparts between January and April of last year, that disparity dropped sharply throughout the year, according to a CDC analysis published today. However, the researchers say that wasn't a result of fewer cases among non-whites, but rather a spike in cases among whites. People looking into these inequities, the authors write, should consider the factors behind the narrowing gap, like changes in where the virus is spreading geographically, and which groups have had the best access to testing.
Los Angeles schools are set to re-open for in-person learning next month, the Washington Post reports, following a major deal between leaders of the country's second-largest school district and the union representing teachers there. Preschools and elementary schools will open first, followed by secondary schools. As part of the deal, teachers will be prioritized for vaccination before classes resume.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of March 10, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
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WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
What Was Wuhan Like a Year Ago?
A new documentary from Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang reveals what it was like to live in Wuhan, where the COVID-19 outbreak began, as the pandemic was first unfolding, the New Yorker reports. Read more here.
Line-Cutters in California
Officials in the city of Pasadena, in L.A. County, canceled a planned coronavirus vaccination clinic for elderly residents and frontline workers after hundreds of slots were taken by people who do not yet qualify for the shot, including many "who worked in the media and in Hollywood...including at production companies, streaming TV services and news outlets and on the sets of soap operas," the Los Angeles Times reports. Read more here.
Team Trump Wants Rollout Credit
As the pace of the U.S. vaccine rollout accelerates under President Biden, some former Trump Administration members argue they aren't getting enough credit for setting Biden up for success, the New York Times reports. Read more here.
What the Biden Administration Can Keep Doing to Fight Child Poverty
Among other elements, Congress' new relief package includes short-term measures to address child poverty, a longstanding problem in the U.S. that the pandemic has dramatically exacerbated. But the Biden Administration can do more to fix the issue for good, attorneys Suraj Patel and Joel Dodge write for CNN. 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 Alex Fitzpatrick and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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