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A key Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel on Friday recommended the U.S. resume using the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. Details are below. Also, Scientists at Texas A&M University's Global Health Research Complex say they've detected a new Covid-19 variant.
Programming update: We're less than three weeks away from our annual Healthy Returns Summit. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky gives us a key Covid update, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks talks transforming health care, Centene CEO Michael Neidorff talks mental health, Pfizer Head of R&D Kathrin Jansen gives us a backstage look at vaccine development, plus so much more. Check out the full lineup and register now to join us on May 11.
| | The J&J vaccine could be redistributed in the U.S. as soon as this weekend | The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice recommended the U.S. resume using the J&J Covid-19 vaccine, paving the way for regulators to lift their recommended pause. European regulators earlier this week recommended the vaccine include a warning about the risk of the rare but severe events, which require a different kind of treatment than blood clots normally might. And while the rate of vaccination has been leveling off in the U.S., local leaders say they don't necessarily think that's because of the J&J pause – and they hope bringing the one-shot vaccine back into use could lead to a boost in those getting vaccinated.
-Meg Tirrell, Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | FDA finds poor conditions at plant that ruined of doses of J&J shot | The FDA said a Baltimore plant – operated by Emergent BioSolutions – that ruined millions of J&J Covid-19 vaccine doses was unsanitary and unsuitable to manufacture the shots. In a scathing 13-page report, inspectors wrote that the facility used to manufacture the vaccine was "not maintained in a clean and sanitary condition" and was "not of suitable size, design, and location to facilitate cleaning, maintenance, and proper operations." Emergent told CNBC in a statement that it was committed to working with the FDA and J&J to fix the problems.
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | Rich countries are refusing to waive the rights on Covid vaccines | The U.S., Canada and U.K. are among some of the high-income countries actively blocking a patent-waiver proposal designed to boost the global production of Covid-19 vaccines. It comes as coronavirus cases worldwide surge to their highest level so far and the World Health Organization has repeatedly admonished a "shocking imbalance" in the distribution of vaccines amid the pandemic. Andrew Stroehlein, European media director of Human Rights Watch, said via Twitter the fact that high-income countries were "throttling vaccine production globally by blocking the TRIPS waiver ... is a scandal that affects us all."
-Sam Meredith | | | | Texas A&M lab detects new Covid variant | Scientists at Texas A&M University's Global Health Research Complex say they've detected a new Covid-19 variant named BV-1. This variant is related to the U.K.'S B.1.1.7 variant, which current vaccines have been shown to be effective against. BV-1 shows signs of a more contagious strain that causes more severe illness and appears to be resistant to antibodies. Infection lasted about three weeks in one student but the researchers say they still don't know the full significance of this variant. Though the variant has a combination of mutations similar to other internationally notifiable variants of concern.
-Rich Mendez | | | | Calls for lockdowns in India rise as country reports more than 330,000 new cases | India needs a brief but extensive lockdown to break the chain of coronavirus transmission and allow the medical community to recuperate, according to the national president of the Indian Medical Association. The South Asian nation is going through a disastrous second wave of Covid infections and growing concerns about new strains of the virus that are potentially more contagious. On Friday, India reported 332,730 new cases of infections over a 24-hour period, according to government data. For the second day in a row, India reported the world's highest single-day increase in infections.
-Saheli Roy Choudhury | |
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