Sandra Lindsay never met James Phipps—which makes a lot of sense considering their lives are separated by more than 200 years. In 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner administered the first smallpox vaccine to the nine-year old Phipps, beginning the long march to the eradication of the disease. Exactly one year ago today, Lindsay, a 53-year-old critical care nurse in Long Island, New York, joined Phipps in immunological history, becoming the first person in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19. One year, and hundreds of millions of doses administered later, Lindsay has had a lot of time to consider her contribution to the battle against the pandemic.
“I think that it definitely inspired a lot of people,” she told my colleague Tara Law, “and for that I would do it over and over again.”
Lindsay’s justifiable pride notwithstanding, nobody is holding any celebrations this week. As my colleague Chris Wilson reports, yesterday marked an inglorious milestone, as the U.S. surpassed 50 million cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began two years ago, with that total certain to grow—and perhaps surge—as the holidays push a possible fifth wave of domestic infections.
Digging down into the numbers, Chris did find some reason for hope. For one thing, yesterday’s seven-day rolling average stood at 119,604, about half of where it was a year ago this week. That’s helping to keep the overall growth rate in cases below where it was in 2020 as well, when every four to five days, a million new cases were added to the roll. What’s more, the arrival of the Omicron variant—seemingly unalloyed bad news—has at least led to a surge in vaccinations, Chris reports.
But overall vaccine levels still remain stubbornly stuck at just above 60% in the U.S., significantly below the minimum 70% that would be needed for herd immunity. And a full year on, vaccination remains a poisonously polarizing issue, rife with suspicion, misinformation and conspiracy nonsense. Lindsay reports that she has been regularly attacked on social media, with critics calling her a guinea pig and “the devil,” and accusing her of being paid to take the shot. As a Black woman and a Jamaican immigrant, she is aware that her vaccination had a particular resonance—one, she hoped, that would push back against generations of mistrust, but so far is showing mixed results.
“Historically, Black people, for the sake of medicine and medical advancement, have endured a lot of harm and unethical practices,” she told Tara. “My vaccination alone on national TV does not erase all of that harm and pain. For me, that represented just the beginning.”
The beginning, alas, is where it sometimes feels we still are—with the case-count odometer continuing to roll and vaccination rates continuing to lag. The pandemic will, ultimately, be brought to heel. But this week’s milestones make that longed-for future just a little harder to see.
More than 594 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this afternoon, of which more than 485 million doses have been administered, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 60.9% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
More than 270.7 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 12 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 5.3 million people have died. On Dec. 13, there were 623,053 new cases and 6,071 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 50.1 million coronavirus cases as of 12 a.m. E.T. today. More than 798,000 people have died. On Dec. 13, there were 198,017 new cases and 1,364 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 Dec. 14, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Even as much of the world battles with the Omicron variant, South Korea is reeling under its latest Delta-driven surge, reports the Associated Press. On Tuesday, 5,567 new infections were recorded, with 94 deaths and 906 people in serious or critical condition. In Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, 86% of intensive care beds are occupied and 1,480 patients are waiting to be admitted to hospitals or other treatment facilities. The surge is especially troubling since it comes in a country in which 81% of the population is vaccinated—though only 13% are boosted.
In South Africa, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is having trouble keeping up with the latest wave of the pandemic, showing only a 70% efficacy against hospitalization among severe cases and just 33% in preventing infection in the first place, reports Reuters. The findings were based on a study of 211,000 positive COVID-19 tests conducted by the country’s largest public health insurer. Of those cases, 78,000 were attributable to the Omicron variant. One bright spot: overall, the share of severe cases is lower than in the past, further evidence that Omicron leads to milder symptoms in the majority of people it infects.
Better news on the Pfizer front comes from a new study showing that the company’s antiviral drug, called Paxlovid, is 89% effective in reducing risk of hospitalization and death if given within three days of infection, and 88% if given within five days, according to results released by the company. Pfizer also reported that the pill does work in lab studies against the Omicron variant in particular.
A mixed report out of Africa, as the continent has recorded an 83% rise in cases in the past week—but is seeing fewer deaths than in previous surges, reports the World Health Organization. New cases are doubling every five days, a rate faster than the region has seen any other time this year. The surge is being driven by both the Delta and Omicron variants. The WHO adds an additional worry: At current rates, Africa is not expected to vaccinate 70% of its population until August 2024.
Federal Express and UPS report having delivered 1.3 billion doses of vaccines globally, one year after shipments of the shots began, according to the Washington Post. UPS has done more of the work, delivering 1 billion doses to 110 countries, while FedEx reports 300 million domestic deliveries in the U.S. Preventing spoilage has been the companies’ primary challenge: FedEx says its U.S. delivery time is less than 20 hours, while UPS reports it has gone through more than three million pounds of dry ice to keep the cold chain from breaking.
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 Jeffrey Kluger and edited by Elijah Wolfson.
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