When my boyfriend and I became eligible for the coronavirus vaccine last month, we both wanted our shots quickly. But he took a casual approach, while I looked for appointments obsessively. Ultimately, I felt validated when I scheduled shots for the two of us the day after we first became eligible. He later admitted that he didn't know if he would have been vaccinated as quickly if I hadn't made it my mission to get us our shots, given the high demand here in Los Angeles.
I don't know if it's fair to my boyfriend, but I thought of our experience after looking at U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data that show, as of yesterday, only 38.5% of U.S. men have been vaccinated, compared to 43.3% of women. This discrepancy disturbed me, given COVID-19's disproportionate toll; about 13 men have died of the virus for every 10 women. Shouldn't men feel a greater sense of urgency to get the shot? As I took a closer look at the data and spoke to experts on the matter, I learned that many factors are contributing to the vaccination gender disparity.
First of all, women are more likely to have been eligible for vaccination earlier on. Women make up a larger share of U.S. residents over 65 and are more likely to be essential workers, and both groups were prioritized for vaccination. The gender gap has narrowed as eligibility has opened up, but it persists.
Some of the discrepancy also likely comes down to attitudes. Women generally tend to take more preventative care measures and have more contact with doctors, both as caregivers and to receive sexual and reproductive care. Men, meanwhile, are less likely than women to say that they're very concerned about being infected with COVID-19. Men are also more likely to be Republicans, who tend to say they're not planning to get the vaccine.
Economic forces may be at play, too. Women are more likely to have lost their jobs and have borne more of the caregiving burden during the pandemic, so they may feel a greater sense of urgency to bring the crisis to the end—including through vaccination.
"I'd imagine for a lot of women, especially young mothers with young children, there's probably a very high desirability for things to go back to normal," Rosemary Morgan, a research scientist at Johns Hopkins University, told me.
About 312.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of Monday afternoon, of which 246.7 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 31.8% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will likely authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for use in youth ages 12 to 15 by next week, the Associated Press reports. In the companies' study of 2,260 participants in that age range, zero were infected, while side effects were minor and similar to those reported in young adults. Expanding vaccination to younger people could help curb the pandemic—while kids are less likely to develop severe illness, they have in recent weeks accounted for almost a quarter of new reported cases in the U.S.
One in four Europeans has received at least their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today. "Vaccination is gaining speed across the [European Union]: we have just passed 150 million vaccinations," she added in a tweet. Von der Leyen said that the EU will have enough doses for 70% of resident adults by July.
Pfizer made $3.5 billion in first-quarter revenue from the coronavirus vaccine it's producing with BioNTech, according to financial results it posted today. It expects to make about $26 billion from the shot this year in total, based on existing contracts, though it anticipates further research and development costs as it further refines the shot. All told, Pfizer reported first-quarter revenue of nearly $14.6 billion. Coronavirus vaccines are available free of charge to recipients in the U.S. and elsewhere, but insurance companies and governments are footing the bill.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 153.5 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 3.2 million people have died. On May 3, there were 681,590 new cases and 11,077 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 2.5 million confirmed cases:
India today became the second country to record at least 20 million cases of COVID-19, following the United States. The hard-hit country has reported more than 2.6 million cases and 24,000 deaths over the last week, but limited testing is likely obfuscating the outbreak's true toll. India's allies, including the U.S., U.K., France and more, are sending it desperately needed medical oxygen and other supplies; about 300 tons of emergency shipments have landed in Delhi over the past five days. However, many of the supplies still haven't reached the people who need them most, as Scroll.in reports.
Human rights activists, opposition leaders and others are up in arms over Australia's move to block citizens from entering the country after visiting India, the New York Times reports. Under the ban, which was implemented to prevent new virus outbreaks and will last at least until May 15, violators can face up to five years in prison and a fine of about $50,000. The rule, which reportedly marks the first time Australia has made it illegal for its own citizens to enter the country, "undermines the very status of citizenship," former Australian race discrimination commissioner Tim Soutphommasane wrote in The Guardian.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded more than 32.4 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. More than 577,500 people have died. On May 3, there were 50,560 new cases and 483 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:
U.S. states will soon be able to order fewer than their allocated number of vaccine doses from the federal government, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeffrey Zients told reporters today. The unordered doses will go into a pool that other states can then access. The strategy change comes as more than 20 states have reported that they aren't using all their allocated doses, per CBS News, a reflection of flagging demand. However, vaccination rates remain below the critical 70-80% level across the country.
President Joe Biden and vaccine makers are facing pressure to loosen patent and intellectual property protections on coronavirus vaccines amid devastating outbreaks in India and South America, the New York Times reports. Some experts and advocates believe Biden faces a moral and political imperative to lift the restrictions, while others are concerned that the move wouldn't actually boost global vaccine supplies, as knowing what's in a vaccine doesn't mean drugmakers will immediately be able to produce doses of it.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of May 4, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The Overlooked Cancer Patients
During the pandemic, "people didn't stop getting cancer; they stopped getting diagnosed," Duaa Eldeib writes for ProPublica in this look at the unfolding oncological crisis. Read more here.
Working on the Railroad
Amtrak, which took a major hit during the pandemic, could receive billions of dollars for upgrades if President Biden's proposed American Jobs Plan passes Congress. CEO William Flynn spoke to TIME about the company's plans to improve and expand service. Read more here.
The Biology of Being a Mom in the Pandemic
For this piece in TIME, author Abigail Tucker dives into how pandemic-related stress could be harming mothers and their children—and what society can do about it. 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 Tara Law and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
沒有留言:
張貼留言