There’s been plenty written about parents who are hesitant to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, and that remains a major issue for health officials to tackle. But it’s also worth highlighting that many parents are absolutely psyched to get their 5- to 11-year-old kids vaccinated now that Pfizer-BioNTech’s shot has been authorized.
When I set out to find some of these parents online, the response was immediate and enthusiastic. It’s clear that many parents, coast to coast, want to shout their excitement from the rooftops. And who could blame them? Young kids have been vulnerable to the virus for almost two years, forcing many families to stay vigilant about pandemic precautions even as much of the world goes back to normal(ish) life.
“It feels like Christmas came early,” one Tennessee mother told me of vaccinating her 10- and 11-year-old kids. “Once their shots are in their arms, I will probably cry.”
Another mother told me that vaccination will allow her 8-year-old daughter, who has severe asthma, to return to the classroom—a day both mother and child have been anxiously awaiting.
And perhaps just as important, a father from Florida expressed pride that his children will be part of protecting their community. Children rarely get severely ill or die from COVID-19 but they can catch and spread the virus, so vaccinating them is a crucial part of slowing its spread.
For both parents and non-parents alike, then, the pediatric shot’s authorization is cause for celebration.
Nearly 529 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which more than 426 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 58.2% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 248.6 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and about 5 million people have died. On Nov. 4, there were 525,866 new cases and 7,632 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's every country that has reported over 5 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 46.3 million coronavirus cases as of 9:30 a.m. E.T. today. More than 751,500 people have died. On Nov. 4, there were 82,061 new cases and 1,131 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:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Nov. 4, 11 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Schools across the country are using money and other perks to motivate students to get vaccinated, TIME’s Katie Reilly reports. Administrators have resorted to $100 payments, gift cards, free prom tickets and more to drive up vaccination rates—a practice that some critics argue amounts to bribery. But one superintendent told Katie he was willing to do what it takes to keep his school safe. “This is tested,” he said. “A lot of people smarter than us have worked hard on this. So to me, it was money well spent.”
Pfizer says it has developed an antiviral drug that can treat severe COVID-19, just a day after U.K. regulators approved the use of a similar pill made by Merck. Pfizer says its pill cuts rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and death by almost 90%. It plans to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international regulators to authorize its use as soon as possible.
The U.S. government has canceled a $600 million contract with Emergent BioSolutions, the Maryland-based vaccine manufacturer at the center of a contamination scandal. Emergent was supposed to be the U.S.’ sole domestic maker of Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, but millions of Johnson & Johnson shots were found to be contaminated there in March. The government stopped payments to Emergent earlier this year, according to the New York Times, and has now officially terminated the contract.
Tanzanian government officials have denied COVID-19’s existence throughout the pandemic, even as cemeteries have filled with the bodies of those who died from the virus, the Wall Street Journal reports. The country’s late President John Magufuli last year called the virus a “satanic myth,” and his government discouraged mask-wearing and forbade doctors from attributing any deaths to COVID-19. The country is an extreme example of a problem happening throughout Africa, the Journal writes: across the continent, the full scope of the pandemic’s impact remains unknown, either wilfully or due to faulty data.
More than 37,000 COVID-19 infections were reported in Germany today, a new record that illustrates the havoc the Delta variant is still causing in many European countries. Germany’s spike seems to be mostly driven by its substantial unvaccinated population; only about two-thirds of Germans are fully protected, a rate lower than in many large European nations. The country is now offering booster shots for all adults, CNN reports.
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 Angela Haupt.
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