As you rub your neck from the public-health whiplash that occurred this week when federal officials recommended that many people vaccinated against the coronavirus go back to wearing masks, consider this dizzying detail:
Residents of some of the most-vaccinated counties in Colorado the places that state officials have lauded as doing the best job in working to stop the virus are now being urged to resume donning that most prominent of pandemic precautions. Residents of some of the least-vaccinated counties in Colorado are not.
This seemingly incongruous scenario is due to the pandemic taking yet another surprising turn in Colorado.
The new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people in areas with lots of new coronavirus cases resume wearing masks when around others indoors. The guidance puts the threshold for mask-wearing at 50 new cases per every 100,000 people over the previous week or at a test-positivity rate of at least 8%.
A month or two ago in Colorado, a countys vaccination rate was a somewhat reliable predictor of what its coronavirus case rate would be. Counties with higher vaccination rates generally had lower case rates, and counties being hit hard with surges of infections Mesa County was a frequently cited example often had lower vaccination rates.
But since then, the fearsomely transmissible delta variant has exploded across the state. It is now believed to account for 95% of new cases in Colorado, having virtually squeezed out all competing variants. Around 685 new coronavirus infections are being reported a day in Colorado right now numbers not seen since late-May, when the state was on the downward slope from its previous case surge. Hospitalizations are also ticking upward, though more slowly.
And the correlation between vaccination rate and case rate has broken down.
On Thursday, 44 of the states 64 counties had case rates high enough to fall under the CDCs masking guidance, according to state data. Those counties include 18 of the 20 most-vaccinated in the state. (The CDCs map of counties in the mask zone has a different count in part because the agency is working with older data than the state is.)
The highest one-week case rate in the state on Thursday was in the third-most vaccinated county: Summit County, where more than 77% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated but which reported 287 new cases per 100,000 people over the past week, according to state figures. The fourth-highest case rate was in Mineral County, the fourth-highest vaccinated county.
Of the 20 least-vaccinated counties in Colorado, half of them Thursday reported one-week case rates low enough to exempt them from masking guidance. And, taking a longer view by looking at two-week cumulative case rates, the transmission trends are just as muddled.
So, what exactly is going on here?
May Chu, an epidemiology professor and infectious disease expert at the Colorado School of Public Health, said one explanation involves the demographic characteristics of the least-vaccinated counties. Despite having a high percentage of people who are potentially susceptible to the virus, theyre not places where the virus can spread easily.
Some of those are very rural counties where density is not a big issue, she said.
Another possible explanation involves previous coronavirus case surges. Researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health have estimated that, while the Eastern Plains has some of Colorados least-vaccinated counties, it has some of the highest rates of immunity due to a high percentage of people who have previously caught the coronavirus.
But Chu said the CDCs new guidance is also a natural result of researchers and health officials trying to understand a complex microbiology problem while simultaneously making recommendations to the public on how to stay safe. It feels whiplash-y because thats sometimes how science works.
Theres a lot of pressure as to whats the right thing to do for COVID, she said. I always try to think of it this way: Weve had the virus for about a year and a half. In terms of microbiology, this is a very, very young virus still, and there are a lot of things we dont know about it.
This is biology, she said. Biology is messy.
In particular, the mask guidance comes after a startling new revelation about the delta variant. According to reporting by The Washington Post, federal authorities reviewed research suggesting that vaccinated people may be highly capable of spreading the variant if infected by it perhaps just as capable as unvaccinated people. The data are expected to be released Friday.
Vaccination still appears effective at preventing people from getting really sick or dying, even if they are infected with the delta variant. But the new research has led to concerns that the previous CDC guidance that vaccinated people can go maskless pretty much anywhere could lead to yet another surge of the virus.
And, because there are still a lot of unvaccinated people and also a lot of people for whom the vaccine is less effective due to underlying health issues, a new surge could lead to many more deaths.
If theyre not masked, Chu said of vaccinated people, then its just like February of last year.
But the CDCs new guidance appears to have caught state and local health authorities off guard.
On Thursday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment still had not said whether it endorses the guidance and will, likewise, recommend that people start wearing masks again.
Several county public health departments said they are still reviewing the guidance and had not made a decision on whether to recommend or re-mandate masks. Jefferson County Public Health issued a statement Thursday evening saying it strongly encourages residents to wear masks in public indoors settings, regardless of vaccination status.
We know this is discouraging news, especially after months of progress, the agencys executive director, Dr. Dawn Comstock, said in a statement. We dont want to give up the ground our communities worked so hard to take during this battle against COVID-19. By taking recommended precautions now, we can work to minimize viral transmission to prevent the delta variant from spreading even further.
The public health board in Pitkin County another highly vaccinated county with currently high case rates plans to discuss at its next meeting whether to reissue a mask order.
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday continued to portray the pandemic as a matter of personal responsibility something that can be ended through individual action. His office sent out a news release stating that the coronavirus is spreading in areas with low vaccination rates even though there is ample supply and access to the safe and effective vaccine.
This is now becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated and we have the tool to end it, Polis said in a statement. Now more than ever it could not be more clear that you are either on the side of spreading this virus or you are on the side of helping the state get back to the Colorado we know and love.
And, to be sure, vaccination remains a key way to fight back against the delta variants onslaught. Last week, Tri-County Health Department, which serves Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, said that 95% of its coronavirus hospitalizations since March have been in people who were not fully vaccinated against the virus.
Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is the most effective way to protect yourself against this virus, especially with the more contagious delta variant circulating, Dr. John Douglas, Tri-Countys executive director, said in a statement.
But over the past several months government leaders have often pitched vaccination as having another benefit: It allows you to return to your normal life; it allows you to take off your mask.
Chu said public health messaging through the pandemic has been imperfect. And she said the new U-turn on mask guidance should prompt a different approach: Tell people that masks are a valuable part of our lives now. They are here to stay, at least in some form.
Because, otherwise, we might be setting ourselves up for whiplash all over again.
The virus itself is going to change, she said. This delta variant, when we get over it and we will is not going to be the last one.
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From the pandemics earliest days, Dr. Anthony Fauci has drawn political fire from COVID-19 skeptics. As director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Fauci is steeped in the scientific disciplines of virology, immunology and vaccine design. But critics, especially President Trump and his political allies, continue to excoriate him for supporting textbook public health measures like wearing face coverings and building immunity with vaccines.
The latest example occurred this week on Capitol Hill, when Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) effectively accused Fauci of sending U.S. tax dollars to China so scientists there could soup up coronaviruses culled from bats and make them more dangerous to people. Then he accused Fauci of lying to Congress about the purported project.
In a final shot, Paul said Fauci could be responsible for more than 4 million deaths worldwide.
Fauci has stoically endured a lot of molten rhetoric over the past 18 months, but he did not accept these charges quietly.
Sen. Paul, you do not know what youre talking about, and I want to say that officially, Fauci said. I totally resent the lie you are now propagating.
Dr. Anthony Fauci: Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about.
Paul told Fox News the following day that he will ask the Department of Justice to explore whether Fauci committed a felony by lying to Congress, a crime which is punishable by up to five years in prison. That would stem from Faucis May 11 assertion to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that the National Institutes of Health never funded so-called gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology the type of work that would give a virus new and more dangerous capabilities.
Pauls claims rest on some very specific assumptions, not all of which have been demonstrated to be true.
In science, at least, assumptions must be verified if the conclusions that emerge from them are to be taken seriously. Due to repeated interruptions, Fauci didnt get a chance to respond to all of Pauls charges at this weeks hearing. Lets consider them now and see how well they are, or could be, backed by evidence.
In 2014, the institute Fauci directs awarded a five-year, $3-million grant to the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance for a project titled Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.
That project focused heavily on China, where novel coronaviruses had emerged from animals on several occasions. The work promised to explore the potential pandemic risk of such viruses by gathering samples from the field, studying viruses in the lab, and developing models about how they could evolve and spread in real life.
In an interview, Fauci said that roughly $600,000 of the grant money went to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Scientists there many of them U.S.-trained were tasked with nailing down the precise origins of the original SARS-CoV-1 virus that arose in Chinas Guangdong Province in 2002. They were also asked to help us understand what we need to look for to spot what might be an inevitable subsequent SARS outbreak.
That grant allowed scientists to test coronavirus samples harvested from wild animals and their habitats to see whether they were capable of infecting human cells. To do that, the WIV researchers created an experimental backbone, a piece of inactivated virus that serves as a standardized testbed. Then, to examine a particular coronavirus sample, they spliced off its spike protein and fused it to the backbone before exposing it to human cells in lab dishes to see if it would grow.
At the time, there was a prohibition against using federal funds for gain-of-function research. That specifically barred research projects that may be reasonably anticipated to make influenza and SARS viruses more transmissible and/or more virulent in mammals via the respiratory route.
WIVs adherence to that prohibition was monitored, and if in the course of an experiment a virus appeared to have been made potentially dangerous, the instructions were clear: The experiments must stop and youve got to report to the [NIAID] immediately, Fauci said.
This bit involves a bit of trust. After all, some changes in transmissibility or virulence occur naturally during lab experiments, and watching for those changes is part of the point of doing them. To document when and how a virus might become capable of jumping to humans, its crucial to identify where genetic mutations arise, under what circumstances, and how they may change a virus behavior.
But observing such changes and making them are two different things. The purpose of the WIV research was to investigate coronaviruses that were known to circulate in animals (but had not been seen in humans) and to explore their capacity to invade human cells. That makes it hard to say whether the altered virus ability to invade human cells was a function gained or was merely uncovered by WIV scientists.
In addition, genetic tampering or editing will typically leave behind discernible marks. In a recent critical review of the origins of SARS-CoV-2, an international group of virologists notes that the virus carries no evidence of genetic markers one might expect from laboratory experiments.
Scientists at WIV created hybrid viruses, or chimeras, when they spliced the spike proteins of actual coronaviruses onto viral testbeds a procedure that makes it easier to isolate the effects of the spike protein, which is key to invading cells.
Two chimeras made with spike proteins from bat coronaviruses were able to infect human cells.
Paul, who has a medical degree and trained in ophthamology, said such experiments create new viruses not found in nature, which is true. The work matches, indeed epitomizes, the definition of gain-of-function research barred by the NIH. Viruses that in nature only infect animals were manipulated in the Wuhan lab to gain the function of infecting humans, he said.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questions Dr. Anthony Fauci about NIH-funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
(J. Scott Applewhite, Pool via Associated Press)
But that view is subject to debate among scientists.
Fauci said the practice of combining spike proteins from the wild with a lab-made viral backbone was standard laboratory procedure. This particular backbone was adapted from pieces of a bat virus never known to infect humans, he said.
The experiments were reviewed at many levels by qualified professionals in virology, who judged that it was not gain-of-function work.
Were looking at spike proteins of bat viruses that are already out there, Fauci said. Were not manipulating them to make them more or less likely to bind to human cells. Were just asking, Do they, or not?
He said the assurances he provided the Senate committee in May were similarly vetted up and down the NIH.
Neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that would have supported gain-of-function research on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans, NIH Director Francis Collins said in a statement issued on May 19.
One thing is clear: Federal scientists now have broad latitude to define whether a line of research could result in an enhanced potential pandemic pathogen. A 2017 document from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allows the NIH to proceed if expert reviewers determine that it is scientifically sound, the pathogen that could be created is a credible source of a potential future human pandemic, and the investigator and his or her institution have a demonstrated capacity and commitment to conduct [the research] safely and securely.
Whether SARS-CoV-2 emerged from the Wuhan lab is the subject of ongoing debate and investigation by scientists and the U.S. intelligence community. While the World Health Organization initially judged the prospect of a lab leak extremely unlikely, the organizations director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has since said that all hypotheses remain on the table.
President Biden has given the intelligence community until late August to conduct a review of the facts and bring us closer to a definitive conclusion about which of two scenarios a laboratory accident or human contact with an infected animal began the chain of events that led to the pandemic.
Fauci rules out only one scenario: that the viruses examined under the NIAID contract initiated the pandemic.
This is the leap of logic that Fauci, in an interview, called absolutely inflammatory and slanderous. It is also the claim that is most difficult to support with evidence.
Is it conceivable that somewhere in the Wuhan institute they were looking at viruses that may have leaked out? Im leaving that to the people who are doing the investigation to figure out, Fauci said.
But there is one thing that we are sure of, he added: The grant that we funded, and the result of that grant given in the annual reports, given in the peer-reviewed literature is not SARS-CoV-2.
How can he be so sure? There is just too much evolutionary distance between the coronavirus samples the Wuhan scientists were working with all of them genetically sequenced and detailed in published work and the virus that causes COVID-19.
This is what Fauci meant when he told lawmakers this week that it was molecularly impossible for the viruses examined by WIV to evolve into SARS-CoV-2: Generally, the overlap between the genomes of the viruses in the lab and that of SARS-CoV-2 was no more than 80%.
In evolutionary terms, thats a chasm. In their critical review, the international group of virologists note that SARS-CoV-2 and its closest known relatives have an overlap of about 96%. That equates to decades of evolutionary divergence, they wrote.
Given that, Fauci said, theres no way the viruses studied at WIV could have evolved into the virus that has caused 4 million deaths around the world.
Would it be possible to bridge that gap with some deft splicing and dicing in a lab? Perhaps, but if so, telltale marks likely would have been left behind. Those have not been seen by scientists who went looking.
Those same scientists have noted that, were someone looking to make a coronavirus as transmissible as possible, he or she would have changed the spike protein in ways that were already known to improve the virus ability to spread.
Heres what you need to know:The Maricopa County constable inspected an apartment while serving an eviction order in Phoenix in September.Credit...John Moore/Getty Images
President Biden is pushing Congress for a second consecutive one-month extension of a moratorium on residential evictions, as the White House struggles to stand up a $47 billion rental relief program plagued by delays, confusion and red tape.
White House officials, under pressure from tenants rights groups, agreed to a one-month extension of the ban, which was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just before June 30, its previous expiration date. The freeze is now set to expire on Saturday.
Last month, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge by landlords, saying the moratorium could be extended to July 31 to give the Treasury Department and the states time to disburse cash to landlords to cover back rent that tenants did not pay during the pandemic. But Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote in concurring with the majority decision that any future extension of the moratorium would require Congressional action.
On Thursday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, cited the steep rise in coronavirus infections around the country and called on Congress to extend the freeze one more month to avoid a health and eviction crisis.
Given the recent spread of the Delta variant, including among those Americans both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations, President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the C.D.C. to further extend this eviction moratorium, she said in a statement. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.
Mr. Biden calls on Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay, she added.
It is not clear whether there are enough votes in the Senate, which is divided 50-50 on partisan lines with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as a tiebreaker, to pass another extension to the moratorium.
The Biden administrations effort to head off a crisis gained modest momentum in June, with 290,000 tenants receiving $1.5 billion in pandemic relief, according to Treasury Department statistics released last week.
But the flow of the cash, provided under two pandemic relief packages, remains sluggish and hampered by confusion at the state level, potentially endangering tenants who fell behind in their rent over the past year.
Ms. Psaki, in her statement, included a plea to local officials to accelerate their work.
There can be no excuse for any state or locality not to promptly deploy the resources that Congress appropriated to meet this critical need of so many Americans, she said.
Tenants groups have been urging Mr. Biden to extend the eviction moratorium, but White House lawyers argued that challenging the Supreme Courts conservative majority on the case could eventually result in new restrictions on federal action during future health crises.
The moratorium was initially imposed by the C.D.C. last fall, during the Trump administration, because of the danger of virus spread that could arise from a wave of evictions stemming from economic shutdowns and job losses during the pandemic.
Earlier this week, the countrys biggest trade group for residential landlords sued the federal government over the national moratorium, claiming that it had cost owners around $27 billion that was not covered by existing aid programs.
The suit by the group, the National Apartment Association, cited industry estimates showing that 10 million delinquent tenants owed $57 billion in back rent by the end of 2020, and that $17 billion more had gone unpaid since then.
President Biden will formally announce on Thursday that all civilian federal employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be forced to submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel, two people familiar with the presidents plans said.
White House officials said the administration was still reviewing details of the policy, which the president is expected to announce in a speech from the White House. In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Biden said his remarks would reveal the next steps in our effort to get more Americans vaccinated.
The presidents move is expected to be similar to an announcement on Wednesday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who said that tens of thousands of state employees would be required to show proof of vaccination or submit to weekly testing. Mr. Cuomo also said that patient facing health care workers at state-run hospitals would be required to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment.
Other governments around the country are beginning to put in place similar arrangements as well, as the highly contagious Delta variant has caused case numbers to balloon in recent weeks. New York City announced this week that it would require all 300,000 city employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. California also unveiled a plan to require vaccinations for state employees.
The federal plan is not expected to force employees to get a shot unless they work directly with patients at hospitals run by the Veterans Affairs Department. But public health officials are hoping that the prospect of extra burdens for the unvaccinated will help persuade more people to get inoculated.
People familiar with Mr. Bidens announcement said it was part of a longstanding discussion about how to bring most federal workers back to the office after nearly a year and a half in which hundreds of thousands of them worked from home because of the pandemic.
A team has been working on that plan for months, trying to juggle the concerns of employees and the need to keep the government functioning. One concern that officials confronted was how to require vaccinations without potentially prompting critical employees to quit, undermining the governments mission.
But the presidents announcement comes as the administration is under pressure to increase the rate of vaccinations in the country. About half of all Americans have been fully vaccinated, but the number of people getting shots has slowed significantly from the early months of the year.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the deputy White House press secretary, declined on Wednesday to provide details of the presidents speech, but said that the general approach would be to give employees a choice that would hopefully encourage them to get vaccinated.
The plan, she told reporters, is aimed at confirming vaccination status or abiding by stringent Covid-19 protocols, like mandatory mask wearing, even in communities not with high or subsequent substantial spread, and regular testing.
The 27 member states of the European Union altogether have now administered more coronavirus vaccine doses per 100 people than the United States, in another sign that inoculations across the bloc have maintained some speed throughout the summer, while they have stagnated for weeks in the United States.
E.U. countries had administered 102.66 doses per 100 people as of Tuesday, while the United States had administered 102.44, according to the latest vaccination figures compiled by Our World in Data. This month, the European Union also overtook the United States in first injections; currently, 58 percent of people across the bloc have received a dose, compared with 56.5 percent in the United States.
The latest figures provide a stark contrast with the early stages of the vaccination campaigns this year, when E.U. countries, facing a shortage of doses and delayed deliveries, looked in envy at the initially more successful efforts in the United States, Britain and Israel.
But the European Union is now vaccinating its populations at a faster pace than most developed countries. More than 70 percent of adults in the bloc have now received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the achievement put E.U. countries among the world leaders.
The catch-up process has been very successful, she said in a statement on Tuesday.
As inoculation campaigns in many American states have been marred by widespread anti-vaccine sentiment, E.U. countries have been able to immunize their populations with less pushback.
Around 75 percent of residents in the bloc agree that vaccines are the only way to end the coronavirus pandemic, according to a public survey conducted across the European Union in May.
Furthermore, 79 percent said they intended to get vaccinated sometime this year.
Yet the spread of the Delta variant has added new urgency. Cases have soared in countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal, and hospitalizations have increased in France and Spain, among others, driving officials to try to speed up vaccination campaigns that have slightly slowed in recent weeks.
Countries have tried in the first half of the year to stretch the interval between the first and the second doses, but now they have to reduce it to the minimum, with the shortest possible interval, Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said this month.
The center said last week that the Delta variant was now dominant in a majority of countries in the bloc.
Countries including France and Italy have announced new vaccine requirements to try to speed up inoculations, with proof of vaccination or a negative test set to be required to gain access to most public indoor venues. The goal, President Emmanuel Macron of France said in announcing the measures this month, is to put restrictions on the unvaccinated rather than on everyone.
As campaigns have slightly decreased or plateaued in some E.U. countries, health officials have also urged younger age groups to get vaccinated.
We have focused a lot on the elderly, and its left a very strong perception among younger people that theyre not at risk, or that if they are, its very mild, said Heidi Larson, an anthropologist and founder of the London-based Vaccine Confidence Project, which tracks opinions about immunization across the world.
Vittoria Colliza, a Paris-based epidemiologist at Inserm, the French public-health research center, said that vaccine saturation levels were high among many populations, but that large pockets had yet to even receive one dose.
She added that new lockdown restrictions may have to be reimposed to stem the spread of the Delta variant if immunization fails to keep up.
Theyre increasing already, Dr. Colliza said about inoculations, especially among younger people. But the fear is that the Delta variant will begin to fully impact our lives by the end of August.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington said on Thursday that an indoor mask mandate would be reimposed in the nations capital on Saturday, becoming the latest jurisdiction to change public health protocols after new federal guidance advised even vaccinated people in coronavirus hot spots to resume wearing face coverings in indoor public spaces.
The announcement from Washington came as some states and municipalities were quick to update their own mask rules, while others expressed outrage, another example of the political tensions that have often accompanied public health precautions during the pandemic.
The new federal guidance also suggested masks for all children, staff members and visitors in schools, regardless of their vaccination status and community transmission of the virus.
The mayors of Atlanta and Kansas City, Mo., both Democrats, reinstated mask mandates; Atlantas took effect immediately and Kansas Citys will start on Aug. 2. Gov. Steve Sisolak of Nevada, a Democrat, ordered that residents in counties with high rates of transmission including Clark County, home to Las Vegas wear masks in public indoor spaces starting on Friday. In Minnesota, health and education officials urged all students, staff and visitors to wear masks in schools, but held off making the guidance a state requirement.
Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, a Democrat, announced a mask requirement for state employees and visitors in public areas of state government buildings, starting on Aug. 2. She also recommended masks for all residents in counties with high transmission rates, while acknowledging the frustrations of vaccinated people.
I take no pleasure in asking you to put a mask on again, she said at a news conference on Wednesday, the same day a mask requirement went into effect in a central Kansas school district.
On Wednesday, at least six Republican governors, Greg Abbott of Texas, Doug Ducey of Arizona, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, and Ron DeSantis of Florida, signaled their opposition to the recommendation.
Its very important that we say unequivocally, no to lockdowns, no to school closures, no to restrictions, and no mandates, Mr. DeSantis said in a speech at a gathering held by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative lobbying group.
Nine states Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas had already banned or limited face mask mandates, leaving cities and counties with few options to fight the virus spread.
Some municipalities in states that have resisted mandates faced headwinds even before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its new guidance. On Monday St. Louis County, Mo., reinstated a mask mandate, only to face a lawsuit hours later from Eric Schmitt, the states Republican attorney general.
Major employers are also struggling with how best to interpret the new mask recommendations. Apple announced that it would require masks for customers and employees in more than half of its U.S. stores and in some corporate offices, and MGM Resorts International, the casino and hotel giant, said it would require all guests and visitors to wear masks indoors in public areas.
Other companies have pushed back their return-to-office dates, while some that have already relaxed mask restrictions, like WalMart and Kroger, had not indicated their plans as of Wednesday.
Lauren Hirsch and Jack Nicas contributed reporting.
Federal regulators have approved the reopening of a troubled Baltimore vaccine-making plant that has been closed for more than three months over contamination concerns that delayed the delivery of about 170 million doses of coronavirus vaccine.
The turnabout came after a two-day inspection at the plant this week by the Food and Drug Administration and weeks of effort by Johnson & Johnson and its subcontractor, Emergent BioSolutions, to bring the site up to standard.
The F.D.A. had brought production at the factory to a halt after the discovery in late March that workers had accidentally contaminated a batch of Johnson & Johnsons vaccine with a key ingredient used in AstraZenecas, then made at the same site. The federal government also stripped Emergent of the responsibility to manufacture AstraZenecas vaccine and instructed Johnson & Johnson to assert greater control over Emergents operation.
The American people should have high expectations of the partners its government chooses to help prepare them for disaster, and we have even higher expectations of ourselves, Robert Kramer, the chief executive of Emergent, said in a statement on Thursday.
We have fallen short of those lofty ambitions over the past few months but resumption of manufacturing is a key milestone, and we are grateful for the opportunity to help bring this global pandemic to an end, he added.
The development, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, is welcome news for Johnson & Johnson. Because of Emergents failures to meet manufacturing standards, Johnson & Johnson has fallen behind on its contractual pledges to deliver vaccine to the United States government and to Europe.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the two other developers whose vaccines have been cleared for emergency distribution by the American authorities, have supplied most of the shots distributed in the United States. The federal government has more than enough doses of those vaccines to meet the countrys needs. It is unclear whether it will also try to deploy more doses from Johnson & Johnson or export them.
Before it halted operations, Emergent said that the plant had the capacity to produce about a billion doses of vaccine a year. Production will need to gear up in stages, officials said.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday agreed to allow Johnson & Johnson to extend the shelf life of its coronavirus vaccine to six months.
The F.D.A.s decision came as state health officials in the United States were growing increasingly concerned that doses of the vaccine would expire and go to waste. The vaccines were previously set to expire after four and a half months.
In a letter, the F.D.A. said its decision was applicable to batches that might have expired prior to the issuance of this concurrence letter and had been stored at the proper temperature, 2-8 degrees Celsius, or 35.6-46.4 Fahrenheit.
The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine can be stored in normal refrigeration, which has helped states reach more isolated communities where it may be difficult to manage a two-dose vaccine like those made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both of those must be stored at much lower temperatures.
As of Wednesday, more than 13 million Americans had received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been the most widely administered in the United States, with more than 87 million Americans fully vaccinated with it. More than 63 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated with the Moderna formula.
JERUSALEM Israel will begin administering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine those 60 and older, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced on Thursday, citing the rising risk of a virus surge fueled by the Delta variant.
The health ministry has instructed the countrys four main health care providers to begin giving on Sunday a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Israelis in that age group who received a second dose more than five months ago. President Isaac Herzog, 60, will be the first to get a booster shot on Friday, Mr. Bennett said.
The battle against Covid is a global effort, Mr. Bennett said.
Whether booster shots are needed by older citizens is an issue that is far from settled among scientists. Most studies indicate that immunity resulting from the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna is long-lasting, and researchers are still trying to interpret recent Israeli data suggesting a decline in efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine months after inoculation.
Pfizer on Wednesday offered up its own study showing a marginal decline in efficacy against symptomatic infection with the coronavirus months after immunization, although the vaccine remained powerfully effective against severe disease and death. The company has begun making a case for booster shots in the United States, as well.
The latest government decision in Israel, an early leader in administering vaccines, follows an analysis by the health ministry that estimated that the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in preventing serious illness remained higher than 90 percent but that its ability to stop infection had fallen over time.
Some experts have pushed back against a rush to approve a booster in Israel. The data are too uncertain, they say, to estimate of how much efficacy has waned. For example, the Delta-driven outbreak hit parts of the country with high vaccination rates first and has been hitting other regions later.
Since June, there has been a steady rise in Israels daily rate of new virus cases, and the seven-day average is 1,670 a day. The figure exceeded 2,300 one day this week, a spike that health experts have attributed to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.
The daily rate is still far lower than at the height of Israels third wave of infections in January, when number of new daily cases rose briefly above 11,000. But it is far higher than in mid-June, when the figure fell to single digits and the government eased almost all antivirus restrictions to allow daily life to return to normal.
The number of coronavirus patients in hospitals nevertheless remains relatively low; a total of 159 people were hospitalized on Thursday, much less than the figure of more than 2,000 at the height of the third wave in January.
In the United States, Biden administration health officials increasingly think that vulnerable populations may need additional shots even as research continues into how long the coronavirus vaccines remain effective.
There is growing consensus among scientists, for example, that people with compromised immune systems may need more than the prescribed two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Earlier this month, Israel began administering a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine to people with compromised immune systems. The country has already given 2,000 of those people a third dose with no severe adverse events, Mr. Bennett said Thursday.
Though Israels vaccination rate has dwindled in recent months, it was an early leader in the race to vaccinate against the virus, allowing the country to return to ordinary life faster than most other places.
Nearly 60 percent of Israelis are fully vaccinated, mostly with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the country is seen as a test case for a post-vaccine world.
Israeli health care leaders welcomed the decision to administer an extra shot to older citizens, while emphasizing that the original two doses still remained protective against serious illness and death.
Gadi Segal, the head of a virus ward at Sheba Medical Center in central Israel, told Kan radio that vaccinated patients admitted to the hospitals were much less likely to need ventilators.
Prof. Segal said: There is no doubt the number of ill is rising. The vaccines ability to prevent infection is less, but it is very effective in preventing patients from reaching the point of respiratory failure.
He added: Im under 60, and when I am offered a third dose, I will take it happily.
Israel has faced scrutiny for its initial reluctance to offer vaccinations to significant numbers of Palestinians living under differing levels of Israeli control in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel initially said the diplomatic agreements signed in the 1990s with the Palestinian leadership, known as the Oslo Accords, gave the Palestinian health authorities responsibility to procure their own vaccines. Rights campaigners said other clauses of the accords, as well as the Fourth Geneva Convention, gave Israel a legal duty to assist.
But when Israel offered about a million vaccines in June to the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank, the authority pulled out of the deal because it said the vaccines would have expired before officials would have had time to administer them. Some of the excess vaccines were later given to South Korea.
Sharon LaFraniere and Carl Zimmer contributed reporting.
AstraZeneca has released one billion coronavirus vaccine doses to 170 nations this year, the company said on Thursday, an important milestone despite the many challenges that its low-cost vaccine has faced including legal fights with the European Union, slashed deliveries and hesitancy in many countries.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed with Oxford University, was once earmarked for broad use throughout Europe and other continents, including Africa.
But the vaccine has been held back by various problems. AstraZeneca has been embroiled in a legal dispute with the European Union after the company said this year that it could deliver only a third of the 300 million doses it was expected to provide to the bloc.
Several European countries, as well as Australia and Canada, stopped using the AstraZeneca vaccine for young people after reports of extremely rare but serious blood clots. Denmark and Spain have stopped using it altogether because of the blood clot risk. South Africa stopped using the vaccine after it was found to be ineffective on a variant there. And the United States has not authorized its use. (AstraZeneca said on Thursday that in the second half of the year, it would seek full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a process that can take many months to complete.)
Experts say they fear that the negative publicity the vaccine has received in some countries President Emmanuel Macron of France called the vaccine quasi-ineffective among those over 65 may have also affected others that are in critical need of doses.
We are definitely seeing that hesitancy in high-income countries can affect low-income countries, Andrew Pollard, a professor of pediatric infection and immunity who leads the group at Oxford University that developed the vaccine with AstraZeneca, said on the BBC on Thursday.
Dr. Pollard added that he believed most people across the world were desperate to receive the vaccines and that the main issue remained the inequitable distribution of doses.
Biden claims COVID vaccines for kids coming soon, trials say otherwise
President Biden said kids under 12 could be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine soon, but trial results will likely take until fall.
USA TODAY
IndyStar is making this story free as a public service. Pleasesupport our journalism with a subscription.
It's not too late to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
Public health officials are urging people to get vaccinated as the delta variant spreads in Indiana. The vaccine offers protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
According to the Marion County Public Health Department,just 1.5% of people hospitalized locally because of COVID-19 from January to mid-July had been vaccinated.
Roughly halfof people 12 and olderwere fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Indiana as of July 28.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifiedmany counties in Indiana ashaving either "substantial" or "high" transmission of COVID-19, likely due to the delta variant.
If you haven't been vaccinated yet, here's how to get your shot.
Currently, people 12 and older are eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Children between the ages of 12 and 17 are eligible to get only the Pfizer vaccine, while people 18 and older can get Johnson & Johnson or Moderna as well.
You can see which vaccines are available at each site here.
Find a vaccination site by going to ourshot.in.gov.or coronavirus.in.gov/vaccine.
You can sign up by going to ourshot.in.gov and finding a vaccination site.To find a vaccination site near you, type your address or ZIP code into the search bar.
There are more than 1,000 sites offering COVID-19 vaccines in Indiana, said Megan Wade-Taxter, media relations coordinator for the Indiana State Department of Health.
'This virus is not tired of us': Marion County recommends masks indoors for everyone
If you live in a rural community, you may be able to get vaccinated from one of the health department's mobile units. Wade-Taxter said the department isworking on sending alerts when they have a mobile clinic, as well as providing information on ourshot.in.gov.
To find information about the mobile vaccine clinics, you can also go to the Indiana Immunization Association. Visit their website atvaccinateindiana.org/mobile-clinics.
"We also are working with counties and minority stakeholders to ensure that we can bring vaccine to locations where it is needed," Wade-Taxter wrote in an email.
More information on the mobile vaccine units can be found atcoronavirus.in.gov/vaccine.
How do I sign up for a vaccine appointment?
To register for an appointment, you need to provide information and answer questions about your health.
When registering or walking in, your vaccine provider can ask your name, date of birth, proof of age, sex, phone number or email address, and insurance information.
Vaccine providers cannot ask for other personal information, such as your social security number, immigration status, credit or debit card number, proof of income or where you were born.
Expert: 'If you're not vaccinated, you're going to get delta'
Many vaccine sites, including CVS, Kroger, Walmart, Sam's Club and Walgreens, are also offering walk-in vaccine appointments.
You may call and sign up for an appointment as well. Call 211 or 866-211-9966.
You will need to bring a valid form of photo ID to your appointment. For more information on what to expect, visit ourshot.in.gov or look at this form:https://bit.ly/3fa2klk.
You can bring your insurance card, though it is not required.
If you are getting your second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, you will need to bring your vaccination card from your first appointment.
COVID-19 vaccines are free of charge inIndiana.
Contact IndyStar Pulliam Fellow Claire Rafford at crafford@gannett.com or on Twitter @clairerafford
Worried about potential side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine? Are you unsure what activities are safe following vaccination? Whether youre vaccinated or not, AL.com will be reaching out to public health experts to get your concerns addressed about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Just send an email to vaccines@al.com and well get an expert to directly answer your question.
Vaccinations to protect from COVID-19 have grown in importance with the rise of the delta variant and surging infection numbers and hospitalizations across Alabama. We are taking your questions about the vaccines and getting answers from healthcare experts.
Here are the questions we have been able to answer for readers.
Readers submitted these questions:
One reader asks: My daughter refuses to get the vaccine because she is afraid it will prevent her from becoming pregnant or harm the baby. She is 23.
Another reader: Some parents have received vaccinations and are asking if the vaccinations create fertility issues for their daughters - ages 17-22?
And: Hello, Please have the correct answer for those breastfeeding, on the reluctance to get vaccinated. Thank You.
To get some answers, we consulted Dr. Karen Leigh Samples, an independent OB/GYN who serves as the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Chair at Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children, and Dr. Rachael Lee, a doctor with UABs Division of Infectious Diseases.
It should be noted that any questions you have about your own health should be addressed with your primary care provider.
Samples said these questions are nothing new to her.
As an OB/GYN I often receive questions about if the COVID vaccine has any negative effects on fertility or future pregnancies, she said. Claims linking COVID-19 vaccines to infertility are unfounded and have no scientific evidence supporting them. The ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) recommends vaccination for all eligible people who may consider future pregnancy.
In fact, according to ACOGs guidance on the vaccines, first issued in January, pregnancy testing should not be a requirement prior to receiving any Emergency Use Authorization-approved COVID-19 vaccine.
Some side effects to the mother should be expected, but they are a normal part of the bodys reaction to the vaccine and developing antibodies to protect against COVID-19 illness, the guidelines state.
According to the CDC, possible vaccine side effects include pain, redness and swelling on the arm where the vaccine was received, with tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever and nausea around the body. If you experience them, should go away after a few days.
COVID-19 vaccines may be administered simultaneously with other vaccines, including within 14 days of receipt of another vaccine, the College states. This includes vaccines routinely administered during pregnancy, such as influenza and Tdap.
Lee said if youre pregnant or breastfeeding, you can safely receive the vaccine.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy can protect you from serious illness and recent studies have shown that these antibodies are detected in breast milk, which may protect your baby as well, Lee said. These vaccines are not thought to be a risk to breastfeeding babies.
Once again, referring to the ACOG recommendations, COVID-19 vaccines should be offered to lactating individuals similar to non-lactating individuals.
See also: Should you get a COVID vaccine booster? What if you had a reaction to the first shot?
Here is more information on COVID vaccines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health officials in Mobile recently set up a pop-up clinic at a food truck festival. Despite officials making a big effort encouraging Alabama residents to get vaccinated, numbers remain low as COVID infections increase. Debbie Elliott/NPR hide caption
Health officials in Mobile recently set up a pop-up clinic at a food truck festival. Despite officials making a big effort encouraging Alabama residents to get vaccinated, numbers remain low as COVID infections increase.
Just 34% of Alabamians are fully vaccinated ranking last in the United States. And the state is experiencing a fourth wave of COVID infection that is spiking across the South, a region with low vaccination rates, and rapid spread of the more contagious delta variant of the virus.
In Alabama, hospitalizations are up five-fold since the beginning of July and public health officials are sounding the alarm.
"The slope of this increase, the rate of which the hospitalization numbers are going up, is unprecedented in Alabama," says Dr. Scott Harris, the state health officer.
Brittany Williams is 32 and works in medical billing in Mobile. She's seen more new COVID-19 cases recently, both at work and in her own family. That's what convinced her to overcome her anxiety about the vaccine.
"I really wanted more research to come out. I didn't want to be the first," says Williams, who recently stopped to get her first dose at a pop-up clinic the local health department had set up at a food truck festival along the Mobile River. "It's a little scary, but the virus is even scarier."
The nurses reassure Williams when she asks about possible side effects of the vaccine, including if it could affect her fertility. She's convinced it's safe, and takes the shot.
"Whoo," she exclaims after it's done. "I did it."
Health officials are trying to reach more people like Williams people in the 18- to 49-year-old age bracket. One strategy is coming to public events like this food truck festival, or flea markets. They're also holding clinics at churches, barbershops, and truck stops. Public universities are offering incentives such as extra dining dollars and premium parking for students who return to campus fully vaccinated.
Alabama's Gulf Coast is experiencing the highest per capita spread of COVID in the state, yet only about one in three people are vaccinated. There have been outbreaks in daycare centers, sports camps and churches, mostly fueled by the delta variant, according to epidemiologist Rendi Murphree, director of disease control at the Mobile County Health Department.
She says it's a frightening situation.
"That combination low vaccination rates, delta variant, super high numbers of cases occurring on a weekly basis it's not likely to get better anytime soon," Murphree says. "It's just spreading like wildfire."
She says the vaccine could be the firebreak, but getting people to take it means overcoming misinformation and mistrust.
"We hear different reasons, like 'I don't need the vaccine, I never get sick,'" she says. "Some people, particularly in minority populations, are still very distrustful of the health care system that has not served them well in the past."
Merceria Ludgood, president of the Mobile County Commission, is worried about the worst-case scenario.
"If we aren't able to figure out a way to get more people vaccinated, then we're going to be in the throes of this for years and years," warns Ludgood. "It's terrifying because we can't help but see a spike in deaths."
Brittany Williams was anxious about getting the vaccine but decided to get her first dose at the pop-up clinic at the food truck festival. Debbie Elliott/NPR hide caption
Brittany Williams was anxious about getting the vaccine but decided to get her first dose at the pop-up clinic at the food truck festival.
Ludgood also believes there's a political dimension to the low vaccine uptake.
"It's almost as if 'if I don't get the vaccine, then this helps to make [Democratic President] Biden fail.'"
In conservative Alabama, epidemiologist Murphree says she reminds people where the vaccination push came from.
"Project warp speed was a Republican administration effort," she says. "The vaccine was developed not by the government, but by scientists, with the full support of a Republican administration."
Murphree and other health officials have been recruiting doctors, pharmacists, religious leaders, and sports figures to help get the word out that vaccines are safe, and free. University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban has encouraged Crimson Tide fans to get a shot, and says his team is nearly 90% vaccinated. And a former Auburn coach turned politician is also trying to help.
"I'm Tommy Tuberville, United States senator for the great state of Alabama, but you can call me coach," Sen. Tuberville says in a video posted on Facebook.
"We're on the one-yard line, but we just need one more play to run it in. You can help us get the win against COVID by getting vaccinated."
Messaging aside, state policy curtails the response to this new wave of COVID. A new Alabama law, for instance, prevents governments, businesses, schools and colleges from requiring vaccinations.
And Republican Gov. Kay Ivey rejects calls for mask mandates, even for unvaccinated kids in public schools, a measure recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ivey says she's done all she can to get the pandemic under control, and is growing frustrated with people who won't get inoculated.
"It's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks not the regular folks. It's the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down," Ivey told news reporters last Thursday. "These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain."
Back at the Mobile food truck festival, the sense of urgency is getting through to vendor Lillie McCoy.
Lillie McCoy runs a food truck, Soul Heaven Caf, with her husband. She had struggled to find time to get vaccinated and the food truck festival offered the perfect opportunity. Debbie Elliott/NPR hide caption
Lillie McCoy runs a food truck, Soul Heaven Caf, with her husband. She had struggled to find time to get vaccinated and the food truck festival offered the perfect opportunity.
"We need some type of protection to help us get through this because I don't want to die," she says. "We got to do our part by getting vaccinated."
McCoy says finding time to get the shot had been an obstacle for her, and this pop-up clinic solved the problem. She got her first dose just before opening Soul Heaven Caf, a food truck she runs with her husband.
"What a great opportunity when it's right here for free and I can get it done while I'm here at the festival," she says before prodding her husband Antonio Smith to get vaccinated.
"Come on. You going to get yours?" she asks.
He doesn't budge.
"I ain't ready for it yet," he says.
Smith says he wants more proof that the vaccine is safe, especially for someone like him with underlying health issues.
"How do I know that it's going to protect me?" he asks. "That's all I want to know."
That's the kind of assurance health officials are trying to emphasize now that nearly all of Alabama's COVID hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated.
Most hospitals enacting a mandatory vaccination requirement include all employees, providers, volunteers and contract staff.
AURORA, Colo. A number of Colorado hospitals are announcing they will require employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 before a mandated deadline.
UCHealth
UCHealth was the first Denver-area hospital to announce the vaccination requirement for employees, providers, volunteers and partners to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by Oct. 1 those who are not in compliance with the policy will face termination, the hospital system announced on Wednesday.
The hospital will grant exemptions for valid medical or religious reasons anyone who is granted an exemption will be required to wear a mask at all times in UCHealth facilities and be tested weekly for COVID-19.
> Watch the video above about the delta variant and vaccine efficacy.
After fighting COVID-19 for more than a year, and as the dangerous delta variant has become the dominant strain in Colorado and elsewhere, it is clear that vaccination against this disease is essential to protect our employees, along with our patients and visitors, said Elizabeth Concordia, president and CEO of UCHealth.
The policy applies to all employees, medical staff, trainees, volunteers, vendors, medical students and contract staff. To date, nearly 85% of UCHealths 26,000 employees have received the vaccine, according to the health system.
A $500 bonus will be given to any employee who is fully vaccinated by Aug. 22.
The vaccine requirement comes as the highly contagious COVID-19 delta variant spreads rapidly across the nation, leading to increasing cases of the disease. UCHealth said their hospitals are now caring for about 85 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 which is up from a month ago.
A vast majority of them have not been vaccinated, according to Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director of infection prevention for UCHealth.
The best way to stay safe from COVID-19 is to get vaccinated as soon as possible, said Barron. The vaccines have been proven to be safe and highly effective in preventing severe illness and hospitalization, even from the delta variant.
About 94% of our hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, and even for fully- vaccinated people who get sick, the vaccine reduces the severity of the illness."
UCHealth employees have the option of receiving the vaccine of their choice, which includes two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the J&J vaccine.
Banner Health
Banner Health has said that all employees will be required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by Nov. 1.
The statement said, in part:
"To protect patients, team members and the community, today Banner Health notified its employees that being vaccinated for COVID-19 will be a condition of employment. With limited exceptions, all team members have until Nov. 1 to be fully vaccinated."
Denver Health
In a letter sent to Denver Health staff, the hospital said it will "implement a mandatory COVID- 9 vaccine policy, effective Nov. 1. All employees, contractors, volunteers, residents, and student-interns are required to have received full vaccination for COVID-19 (i.e. two mRNA vaccines or one J&J vaccine).
The statement said the hospital would create an exemption process for medical conditions and religious beliefs individuals will have the opportunity to send in declinations for review prior to Oct. 15.
Also included in the hospital's statement:
"There is an abundance of safety and efficacy data for the available COVID-19 vaccines. We know that vaccination decreases the risk of COVID-19 infection by 95% and almost eliminates the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death.
The decision to have all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 is critical to our mission to provide safe care to all who come through our doors. By vaccinating all of our employees, Denver Health sends a strong message to the community that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and worthwhile for all Denver residents to receive. Several other institutions of higher education, hospitals and employers are joining us and making the same announcements in the coming weeks.
If you have questions about this policy and how it impacts you please speak with your supervisor or direct your questions to covidinfo@dhha.org. Thank you for your continued support."
Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center
The VA hospital said their health care personnel are required to receive COVID-19 vaccinations under VHA Directive 1193 which states that all Title 38 health care personnel are required to get fully vaccinated and will work with those employees to ensure their compliance.
VA ECHCS has approximately 1,200 Title 38 employees, all of whom continue to have opportunities to receive their vaccine with the hospital or an outside provider they have been offering employees COVID-19 vaccines since December 2020.
A hospital spokesperson said working determine their vaccination status and identify possible health or religious exemptions, while working toward compliance with the directive.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS:COVID-19 Vaccine
The legality behind mandating the vaccine
In some U.S. cities, recent protests against a vaccine mandate have erupted outside of some buildings for large health care providers, including in Boise, Idaho and Houston.
9NEWS Legal Expert Whitney Traylor said the short answer is an employer does have the right to mandate a vaccine based on the case law that is out now.
"And I base that on two things. Both the EEOC has issued standards. OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has issued standards. And I really look to, for example, the EEOC that says the vaccine does not violate the ADA," Traylor said.
Traylor believes that there will likely be some litigation that comes of mandates not only in Colorado, but across the U.S.
However, he believes most cases against a private or public employer mandating the vaccine, would prove very difficult to move forward in court.
"But, of course, somebody could challenge that and say this was an unlawful termination. But remember, these employees are in Colorado, at least if they don't have a contract, which most employees don't, they're at-will employees. Now, that doesn't mean that they can be fired for any old reason. They can't be fired because of their race or religion or their gender. But at the same time, that gives the employer, you know, certain flexibilities. And the employer, the "Catch 22" is that the employer has to provide a safe environment," Traylor said.
He added that there is a difference in the strength of arguments between public employees (i.e. a city employee) and those that work for private companies. However, overturning a case in court against a vaccine mandate would still be tough to come by, he said.
"...those public employees, the rules are a little bit different because they have certain constitutional protections. The courts have actually said that our job is a protected, you know, essentially a protected right. That you have due process, if you will," he said. "So with the public employees, I think they may have a stronger argument to say that mandating it is unconstitutional or a violation of my rights. But even with the public entities, I think they would still win."
Overall, Traylor believes that employers would first try to mitigate the spread of the virus and encourage employees, rather than resort to firing right away.
"...I will say that I don't know of a lot of employers that are taking a hard stand and saying, 'Hey, you don't get it, you're fired,' I think the employers are trying to really encourage them, as I just mentioned. And I think they're trying to take mitigation efforts," he said.
Netflix will require the casts and some crew on its productions in the US to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a measure that comes as the Delta variant continues to spread across the country.
Deadline first reported that the streaming giant recently notified its production teams that it would require casts and crew working in Zone A on US productions to be vaccinated. Deadline described this classification as including both cast members and those who are in close contact with them. According to the report, Netflix plans to make few exceptions to the new vaccination policy, with exclusions including age, medical, and religious reasons.
Netflix confirmed the measure to The Verge but declined to comment further.
Similar measures have been taken by companies including Facebook and Google for employees returning to their offices, and President Joe Biden is expected to announce on Thursday that federal employees will need to be vaccinated or consent to regular testing. Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly planning to delay a mandatory return to work policy. The company will also begin requiring masks in Apple retail stores for both customers and employees, regardless of their vaccination status.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines for some people who are vaccinated, including urging them to wear masks in public indoor settings in regions with high COVID-19 numbers. A surge in cases prompted the recommendation, reversing earlier guidance from May as the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to spread.
Netflix is the first major studio to announce a mandatory vaccination policy for its US productions.
Several dozen people gathered at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday to protest some employers mandating COVID-19 vaccinations and to express fear that the government will follow suit, despite state leaders saying repeatedly they would not.
There were signs that read "Freedom over fear" and"My body, my choice," along with several American and "Don't tread on me" flags.A woman leading a prayer at the complex just after 11:30 a.m. referenced Luke 10:19 as she said the Capitol was "filled with scorpions and serpents."
"We put all of their legalities and evildoings under the blood of Jesus, under the knowledge of the cross," she said. "We proclaim victory in Jesus' mighty name."
Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday said that Arizona does not and will not allow schools to require vaccinations or discriminate against students based on vaccination status.
Ducey's statement came in response to updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which now recommends wearing masks indoors in high-transmission areas regardless of vaccination status.
Banner Health, Arizona's largest private employer and largest health care system, as well as HonorHealth announced last week that their employees would be required to get the vaccine.
Retired nurse Diane Saylors, 67, expressed her concern that those decisions would prompt smaller health care organizations to follow suit.
Saylors said she anticipates a slew of wrongful termination cases if companies fire employees who refuse the vaccine.
"It is an experimental thing, it has not been FDA-approved and they want to force this on people," she said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines in use in Arizona have been thoroughly studied, reviewed and approved for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Pfizer and Moderna have both applied for full approval, though that process could take several months.
But without the longer-term studies associated with full FDA approval, Saylors compared taking a vaccine and risking potential side effects to a game of Russian Roulette.
"I'm not going to put my life on the line for a vaccine," she said, adding that she doesn't fear getting COVID-19 because of the high chances of surviving the virus.
"They admit it doesn't stop you from getting COVID, it doesn't stop you from passing it on, all it is supposed to do is mitigate symptoms," she said. "So what is the big push? If you can still get it and you can still pass it on, the vaccinated and unvaccinated are equal."
Health officials have saidvaccine misinformation is hampering the country's efforts to move on from the pandemic and some, including President Joe Biden, have called for online platforms to do more to combat the problem.
The Arizona Republic reported earlier this monththat around 92% of COVID-19 cases reported in June were among people not fully vaccinated, compared to 95% in May. Around 99% of deaths in Arizona caused by COVID-19 in 2021 have been among people not fully vaccinated, according to the data.
Dr. Cara Christ, the Arizona Department of Health Services director, said at the time thatbreakthrough cases are "still relatively rare" and that the vaccines "absolutely work."
Troy Jenkins, 35, was at the demonstration with a gun acrosshis chest. He wore a shirt disparaging President Joe Bidenand said the 2020 election was "stolen," though lawsuits claiming widespread fraud have been dismissed and Maricopa County audits showed votes were counted accurately.
Jenkins feared that Arizona lawARS 37-788, which outlines the measures authorities can take to isolate and quarantine individuals during a state of emergency or state of war, would be used to mandate vaccines for Arizonans. The law does not reference vaccinations or requiring medications, and has not been invoked so far in the pandemic.
"Even God gave us free will to choose to either serve God or not," he said. "So if God, the creator of everything, said thatHe's going to give us free will to even choose to serve Him or not, who are these normal human beings to say 'I am mandating to vaccinate' or put something in my body?"
Jenkins said he believes the COVID-19 vaccines are bringing more harm than good, adding that "God gave us a natural vaccine it's called the immune system."
Jenkins' wife, 35-year-old Jasmine Jenkins, said everyone should be free to make their medical decisions for themselves.
"If you trust the vaccination, why does it matter that I'm not vaccinated?" she said. "If you trust the vaccination and you believe that it works, it shouldn't matter if I'm vaccinated or not."
Experts have said that herd immunitylikely isn't attainable in the United States because of the widespread vaccine hesitancy and that that will leave people who can't get vaccinated or those with weakened immune systems vulnerable to catching and spreading the virus.
Both Troy and Jasmine Jenkins said their feelings would not change even once the FDA fully approves the vaccines, adding that people should still have the choice to take it or not.
"Arizonans care about freedom, period," Troy Jenkins said.
And if more places of employment are permitted to require vaccinations among their workforce, both said that will have implications for Arizona politicians.
"I know that the legislators feel like we, the people, are just something that they can step and stomp on and they don't have to listen to us, but we are going to make sure that they hear us," he said. "We are not going to listen to any of your so-called mandates, we will refuse all of it, and we the people run this country, not legislators. We hired you, you didn't hire us. We don't work for you, you work for us."
Both Troy and Jasmine Jenkins said their presence at the Capitol on Wednesday was not only about themselves but for future generations as well.
"This is for the kids, this is for their future," he said. "Do you want a future where there is no option?"
Arizona Republic reporters Stephanie Innes and Alison Steinbach contributed to this report.
Reach breaking news reporter BrieAnna J. Frank at bfrank@arizonarepublic.comor on Twitter at @brieannafrank.
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ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) endorsed mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers on Thursday, July 29, 2021.
AHCA/NCAL has issued a policy statement regarding COVID-19 vaccinations of long term care personnel, including support and guidance for providers that adopt mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies for health care personnel.
Press release: https://t.co/DiV6Qwo9e2
The organization represents more than 14,000 long-term care and nursing homes nationally.
One reason for the endorsement is the Delta variant of COVID-19 and those who are unvaccinated. Unvaccinated individuals remain at high risk and can spread the virus to others, including vaccinated individuals, according to an AHCA/NCAL statement. Our residents are some of the most vulnerable individuals to the consequences of contracting COVID-19.
AHCA/NCAL encourages long term care providers who are implementing mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies to:
On Monday, July 26, LeadingAge released a statement joining healthcare organizations in requiring vaccines for all staff in long-term care and other healthcare settings.
LeadingAge represents 5,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States.
Other organizations joining the call include the American Hospital Association (July 21) and The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (AMDA).
