(Bloomberg) — The U.S. recovery from the latest Covid-19 wave is taking hold, with cases dropping or poised to start falling in the vast majority of states. The Food and Drug Administration is leaning toward authorizing half-dose booster shots of the Moderna Inc. vaccine.
An antiviral drug from Merck & Co. appears to inhibit several major Covid variants, including the highly contagious delta strain, according to early stage data. YouTube will begin removing content questioning any approved vaccine, not just those for Covid-19.
Daily infections rose to a record in Singapore, where the spread of the virus despite a high vaccination rate is sowing a rare disquiet in the ruling party. Russian President Vladimir Putin is ending his self-isolation following exposure during an outbreak among his staff earlier this month.
Key Developments:
- Global Virus Tracker: Cases pass 232.9 million; deaths exceed 4.77 million
- Vaccine Tracker: More than 6.19 billion shots given
- South America gets Covid break from vaccines after deadly wave
- Fauci calls CDC director’s Pfizer booster decision ‘courageous’
- A rural Arkansas county became a vaccine success story (podcast)
Fauci Urges NBA Players to Get Shots (2 p.m. NY)
Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, urged National Basketball Association players to “listen to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar” and get vaccinated. Abdul-Jabbar told CNN on Monday that players who aren’t vaccinated aren’t “behaving like good teammates or good citizens.”
“This is a war that we’re involved in,” Fauci said on MSNBC. “And masks and vaccines — they are the weapons that we use to fight this war.”
NBA won’t pay players who can’t play because they don’t comply with local vaccine mandates, the Financial Times reported, citing an NBA spokesman.
CDC Urges Pregnant People to Get Vaccinated (1 p.m. NY)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged pregnant people to get vaccinated against Covid-19, saying the benefits of vaccination outweigh any potential risks.
The agency had already recommended vaccination, but Wednesday it issued an “urgent health advisory” and cited low levels of immunization among pregnant populations. Only 31% of pregnant people have been vaccinated, with lower rates among Hispanic and Black people.
About 161 pregnant people have died from Covid-19 in the U.S., including 22 in August alone, the agency said. Pregnancy increases the risk of worse outcomes from Covid, and the virus raises the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes like preterm birth and stillbirth.
“I strongly encourage those who are pregnant or considering pregnancy to talk with their health-care provider about the protective benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine to keep their babies and themselves safe,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement.
NYC to Hire Permanent Contact Tracers (10:50 a.m. NY)
New York City will employ hundreds of Covid-19 contact tracers permanently in a newly created “Public Health Corps” to connect residents with health care and counseling in under-served neighborhoods, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Outreach workers who have helped Covid-affected individuals and families with food, access to medical care and quarantining in hotels will form the basis of an ongoing outreach program to improve access to medical care for people in the city’s minority and immigrant communities that were hit hardest during the pandemic, de Blasio said. The corps will hire 500 workers by the end of December who will work with community organizations in identifying neighborhoods and households that need help, said Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi.
The city will also create a permanent $20 million Pandemic Response Institute with Columbia University, to study and be prepared for future outbreaks of infectious diseases, de Blasio said.
World Cup Host Qatar Eases Mask Rule (10:40 a.m. NY)
Qatar eased its mask mandate, allowing people to to be maskless in open public spaces except for hospitals, schools and mosques. It has also asked those who work in open spaces to remain masked during working hours. The Gulf nation, which is set to host the World Cup next year, has maintained a capacity limit in most places.
De Blasio Rips NBA Star Over Vaccination (10:10 a.m. NY)
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made an appeal to Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving to get vaccinated after the basketball player dodged questions about whether he’d be able to comply with the city’s vaccine mandates at sports arenas.
“His fans are going to say ‘come on, join us, help us,’” de Blasio said on a Wednesday appearance on CNN.
De Blasio said he didn’t believe the Nets should make any exceptions for Irving, who must be vaccinated to play at the Nets home arena. He said the reason why the city was pushing so hard on widespread vaccine mandates for sports and other cultural venues, health-care workers and teachers is because the requirements are working to boost vaccine rates. He said 45% more doses have been administered since the first mandates were issued in July.
China’s Xi Calls for Improved Bio-Security (9:07 a.m. NY)
Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the importance of enhancing domestic bio-security as the country continues to battle coronavirus outbreaks. The nation should improve legal systems related to bio-security and prevent risks, China Central Television and Xinhua reported, citing his comments at a Politburo study session. China should also strengthen management of domestic bio labs and boost biotech innovation, he said.
YouTube to Pull Videos With Vaccine Falsehoods (9 a.m. NY)
YouTube will begin removing content questioning any approved vaccine, not just those for Covid-19, a departure from the video site’s historically hands-off approach.
The division of Alphabet Inc.’s Google announced Wednesday that it will extend its policy against misinformation to cover all vaccines that health authorities consider effective. A year ago, YouTube banned certain videos critical of Covid-19 vaccines. The company said it has since pulled more than 130,000 videos for violating that rule. But many got around the rule by making dubious claims about vaccines without mentioning Covid-19.
Merck Treatment Inhibits Covid Variants (8 a.m. NY)
Merck & Co.’s Covid-19 antiviral drug, molnupiravir, appears to inhibit several major variants of the virus, including the highly contagious delta strain, according to early stage data presented by the company at an infectious disease conference.
The findings came out of laboratory research pitting the experimental drug against the variants in cell culture. Further research may be needed to confirm the results in human testing.
Slovenia Halts Administering Janssen Vaccine (7:58 a.m. NY)
Slovenia’s Health Ministry decided to temporarily halt administering the Janssen vaccine from Johnson & Johnson after the death of a young woman suspected of suffering serious side effects, state news agency STA reports.
Romania Prepares for Restrictions (6:54 a.m. NY)
Romania’s two largest cities are gearing up for new restrictions, including a night-time curfew, after a surge of cases across eastern Europe over the past two weeks.
With the infection rate exceeding six cases per 1,000 people in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca and reports of hospitals filling with coronavirus patients again, authorities are also preparing to tie access to restaurants to vaccination status and ban large events. Schools may be closed on a case-by-case basis as the government tries to limit online schooling because of worsening exam results last year.
Putin Is Ending Self-Isolation (5:51 p.m. HK)
Russia’s president is ending his self-isolation following exposure to Covid-19 during an outbreak among his staff earlier this month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
Vladimir Putin will meet in the Black Sea resort of Sochi with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later in the day, Peskov said, his first such in-person meeting since his self-isolation was announced Sept. 14.
The 68-year-old Russian leader showed no public sign of illness in the two weeks since then, conducting his regular schedule of meetings via video links. Putin said he took his country’s Sputnik V vaccine earlier this year.
Poland Cases at High Since May (4:47 p.m. HK)
Poland registered 1,234 new coronavirus cases, the Health Ministry said, the biggest daily increase since May. The government has previously said it may tighten regional restrictions after daily infections top 1,000.
Vaccines Expiring in Malawi, Nation Says (3:55 p.m. HK)
At least 27,000 doses of vaccine produced by AstraZeneca Plc will expire in Malawi on Wednesday, just four months after the southern African nation destroyed 19,000 doses of the same product due to a low uptake, Nation newspaper reported, citing Health Ministry spokesman Adrian Chikumbe. To date, just over 1 million vaccine doses have been administered in Malawi, enough to cover 2.7% of the population.
Women, Children Deaths Show Wider Impact (1:15 p.m. HK)
Disruption to health systems in lower-income nations during the pandemic has caused an increase in deaths among women and children that’s more than double the toll from Covid-19, new research shows.
The estimates highlight a crisis that’s threatening years of hard-fought progress in improving the health of women and children, according to the Global Financing Facility, launched in 2015 by the World Bank, United Nations and others.
Indonesia Weighs Free Boosters (1:10 p.m. HK)
Indonesia is finalizing a plan to offer free Covid-19 vaccine boosters to more than 114 million people in anticipation of an “inevitable” third wave of coronavirus outbreak.
Why the Philippines Is the Worst Place to Be (1 p.m. HK)
The Philippines fell to last place in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking of the best and worst places to be amid the pandemic, capping a steady decline over the course of 2021.
The monthly snapshot — which measures where the virus is being handled the most effectively with the least social and economic upheaval — ranks 53 major economies on 12 datapoints related to virus containment, the economy and opening up.
FDA Leans Toward Half Dose Moderna Booster (Noon HK)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is leaning toward authorizing half-dose booster shots of the Moderna Inc. coronavirus vaccine, satisfied that it’s effective in shoring up protection, people familiar with the matter said.
The authorization would set the stage to further widen the U.S. booster campaign after earlier authorization of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE shot. About 170 million fully vaccinated people in the U.S. received the Moderna or Pfizer shots, or 92% of the total inoculated so far.
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