It's a big day for the U.S. fight against COVID-19: As of this morning, every American 16 or older is eligible for vaccination, regardless of their location, employment status or any other qualifier. Public health officials from the federal level down to individual counties are pushing residents to get inoculated against the disease, as mass vaccination can dramatically reduce viral spread.
The broad nationwide eligibility comes amid other good news for the U.S. vaccination effort: as of yesterday, 25.4% of Americans have already received a full regimen, while another 12.3% have gotten at least one shot of the two-dose mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna options.
Work remains to be done. Just because someone is eligible for an appointment doesn't mean they'll be able to book one immediately. However, speaking from personal experience in booking appointments for friends, family and colleagues in New York and New Jersey, I can say it's gotten much easier to secure slots in recent weeks than earlier in the rollout—a reflection of our greatly increased supply.
As more people become eligible for a coronavirus vaccine and supply increases, the biggest challenge will shift from inoculating those who've desperately wanted a vaccine for the past year-plus, to convincing those who are skeptical of the shot that its benefits outweigh its risks. While U.S. vaccine hesitancy has decreased significantly over the past few months, it's still prevalent enough to threaten a fully successful vaccination campaign (we'll never hit 100%, but public health experts generally agree that about 70% of people in a given population need immunity to COVID-19 to seriously curtail viral spread). To help address this problem, the Biden Administration is planning a major media blitz to encourage vaccination, Axios reports.
The pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine amid rare blood clotting reports may seem like another major roadblock. But its effects may be minimal—the government may give the go-ahead to resume use of J&J use as early as this week, and the U.S. is set to receive enough Pfizer and Moderna doses to cover every adult before summer comes around anyway. The stoppage is already making people more skeptical of the J&J shot, but thankfully those concerns don't appear to be spilling over into the mRNA-based vaccines. Still, a one-dose vaccine is particularly useful in communities struggling with access to health care, so if people wind up refusing the J&J shot over safety concerns, it could complicate efforts to inoculate those hardest to reach.
COVID-19 is still infecting tens of thousands and killing hundreds to thousands of Americans every day, and states like Michigan, Maine and Oregon are facing alarming new waves. But we know from the experience of highly vaccinated countries like Israel that mass inoculation can squash this virus. In the meanwhile, it's still on all of us to follow public health guidelines to avoid any more fourth-quarter losses. Mercifully, those guidelines are much more permissive for vaccinated people, and the warming weather across much of the country will make it easier to spend time with friends and loved ones outdoors, where the virus has a far harder time spreading. We're almost out of the woods—to get there a little sooner, consider doing everything you can to help get your friends and neighbors vaccinated.
VACCINE TRACKER
More than 264.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of Sunday morning, of which some 209.4 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 25.4% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Israel fell among people 60 and older (who were eligible for vaccination earlier on) before dropping among younger populations, according to a study published today in Nature Medicine. The findings are further evidence from Israel—a prime natural laboratory, as it leads the world in mass inoculation—that vaccination significantly mitigates the virus' impact.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently ordered troubled Johnson & Johnson contractor Emergent BioSolutions to stop making ingredients for J&J's shot as it continues to investigate issues at the facility, according to a notice Emergent sent to shareholders today. "On April 16, 2021, at the request of the FDA, Emergent agreed not to initiate the manufacturing of any new material at its Bayview facility and to quarantine existing material manufactured at the Bayview facility pending completion of the inspection and remediation of any resulting findings," reads Emergent's letter. A prior error at the facility ruined 15 million doses of J&J's vaccine.
German biopharmaceutical firm CureVac has applied for a rolling review of its new coronavirus vaccine in Switzerland, Reuters reports. Like the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots, CureVac's vaccine is based on mRNA, but unlike those options, it's able to be stored at refrigerator temperatures for up to three months, making it easier to store and transport. CureVac has yet to publicly release efficacy and safety data from its trials, but it's expected to do so in the coming weeks.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 141.4 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 3 million people have died. On April 18, there were 685,344 new cases and 8,603 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:
Delhi, India's capital and a key economic hub, is under a six-day lockdown starting today as a crushing wave of cases compromises area hospitals, Reuters reports. "Delhi's health system is unable to take more patients in big numbers," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said during a press briefing today. "If a lockdown isn't implemented now the situation will go beyond control." He added that New Delhi—a city of nearly 22 million people—has fewer than 100 ICU beds available. India's outbreak continues to set new records; the country is currently reporting an all-time high of nearly 18 new daily cases per 100,000 residents.
That's in sharp contrast to the situation in New Zealand, where the first quarantine-free flight from Australia landed in Queenstown at around 2:30 p.m. local time today to hugs and tears, the Washington Post reports. The flight marks the beginning of a new "Trans-Tasman" travel corridor between the two closely linked countries, both of which have their coronavirus outbreaks nearly entirely under control. If successful, the corridor could pave the way for similar deals between other nations that have similarly crushed their outbreaks.
A mass vaccination site in Nice, France closed early this weekend after administering only 58 of 4,000 available AstraZeneca doses, Euronews reports. While eligibility restrictions may have played a role in the low turnout, one local official said in a television interview that the site's failure may have been driven by skepticism in the AstraZeneca shot, use of which was recently paused in France amid rare blood clotting reports similar to those tied to the J&J vaccine. The event signals that, even if the J&J vaccine comes back into use in the U.S., it may be difficult to convince some people to receive it.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 31.6 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 567,000 people have died. On April 18, there were 41,867 new cases and 313 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:
Hesitancy isn't the only problem plaguing the U.S. vaccine outbreak—access, too, is a major issue in some parts of the country. To that end, the Biden Administration plans to allocate $150 million in American Rescue Plan funds to neighborhood walk-in clinics and similar facilities in underserved areas, CNN reports. The money will be used to shore up vaccination efforts, improve providers' tech capabilities and more.
A group of otters at Atlanta's Georgia Aquarium have tested positive for COVID-19, joining a growing number of animals that have developed the disease, including dogs, cats, and minks. While the otters were "exhibiting mild respiratory symptoms such as sneezing, runny noses, mild lethargy," they are "doing well and are expected to make a full recovery," the aquarium said in a statement. It's believed the animals were infected by an asymptomatic staffer.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 19, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Should We Still Be Masking Up Outside?
One nice benefit of wearing my mask in the winter was that it provided a buffer against the biting cold—but as the temperature rises, it's getting pretty dank in there. So can I take this thing off while I'm outdoors and not lingering around other people? Yes, says Derek Thompson at The Atlantic, as there's only an extremely small risk of transmitting while outside—especially if you're vaccinated. Read more here.
Gaming to Fight Brain Fog
A video game used to treat ADHD in preteen kids could also be used to treat those suffering from post-COVID "brain fog," tech news site The Verge reports. Read more here.
Red America's Vaccine Hesitancy
U.S. counties where most residents voted for former President Donald Trump over President Joe Biden are more likely to have lower rates of vaccine acceptance and actual vaccination, according to this New York Times analysis. 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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