Vaccines; vaccine passports; Redfield; California

The United States faces a hi

Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, warned Sunday the nation could be at risk of a new surge of COVID-19 infections as the number of daily cases in the U.S. has remained at a plateau.

“When you’re coming down from a big peak and you reach a point and start to plateau, once you stay at that plateau, you’re really in danger of a surge coming up,” Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, saidon CBS “Face the Nation.” “And unfortunately, that’s what we’re starting to see.”

More than 50 million Americans are now fully vaccinated, 20% of the adult population, and more than 36% of adults have received at least one dose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sunday.

But while 143 million doses have been administered across the nation, another 37 million doses delivered to state health agencies and private pharmacies have thus far gone unused or just been wasted. The U.S. is now averaging about 2.5 million jabs per day, so 37 million doses equals two weeks of jabs.

The pace is picking up. The U.S. had 3.5 million vaccine doses administered on Saturday and 3.4 million on Friday. U.S. is now administering about 18.8 million doses per week, up from 11.5 million just a month ago and 8.1 million two months ago.

To get more vaccine into arms faster, about half of U.S. states will open up their vaccination efforts to all adults by mid-April, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients says. In all, 46 states and the District of Columbia have already pledged to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of having all Americans eligible for a vaccine by May 1.

Also in the news:

►Brazil’s two biggest cities, Rio and Sao Paulo, have imposed extensive restrictions during a 10-day “holiday” that began this weekend aimed at curtailing one of the world’s most severe COVID surges. The holiday may backfire – many Brazilians are taking advantage of the break to travel and visit friends and families.

►Spanish indie band Love of Lesbian played a show in Barcelona, Spain, before 5,000 fans who all passed a same-day coronavirus screening, to test its effectiveness in preventing outbreaks of the virus at large cultural events. The only rule inside the show was the strict use of the high-quality face masks provided by the concert organizers.

► New York has launched the nation’s first “vaccine passports” system. The certification, called the Excelsior Pass, will be useful at large-scale venues such as Madison Square Garden and will be accepted at dozens of event, arts and entertainment venues statewide.

📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has over 30.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 548,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: 126.8 million cases and 2.7 million deaths. More than 180.6 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 140.1 million have been administered, according to the CDC.

📘 What we’re reading: Robert Redfield, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN he believes the virus that causes COVID-19 was accidentally released from a lab in Wuhan, China. Several scientists said Redfield’s theory did not pass the scientific smell test.

USA TODAY is tracking COVID-19 news. Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates. Want more? Sign up for our Coronavirus Watch newsletter for updates to your inbox and join our Facebook group.

Birx: Most deaths were avoidable

Most coronavirus deaths in the United States were avoidable, former Trump administration coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx says. Birx, in an interview for CNN’s documentary “Covid War: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out,” said deaths in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic were likely inevitable. But she said the death rates in later waves could have been greatly reduced if the U.S. had “mitigated earlier … paused earlier and actually done” greater social distancing and shutdown measures. 

“The first time, we have an excuse – there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge,” Birx said. “All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.” Read more here.

–Matthew Brown

Stuck in Mexico: Americans who test positive can’t come home right away

Travelers don’t need a COVID test to fly to Mexico, but they can’t board a flight back to the United States from the country or any international destination without showing a negative test taken no more than three days before departure or proof of recovery from COVID. Travelers who’ve been stuck say they were told they faced between 10 and 14 days in isolation. When the requirement was announced on Jan. 12, travelers rushed to cancel plans or shift their vacation plans to U.S. vacation spots that don’t require COVID tests. But the bookings rebounded as some hotels announced free testing and a free quarantine stay if they tested positive. Read more here.

Korey Mudd’s positive test extended the honeymoon with his wife, Alisha, in Mexico for nine nights longer than planned.

“Ultimately, we had pushed it off so many times already, we decided we were going to go ahead and go for it,” he said. “It would have been better just to stay home.”

– Dawn Gilbertson

Vaccines slowly bringing families back together

For a year, the coronavirus preyed on the vulnerable and spread uncontrollably throughout the U.S., upending daily life. But now, nearly half of Americans over the age of 65 are fully vaccinated, and heartfelt reunions are happening across the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance says those who have received a full course of vaccine may get together with other fully vaccinated individuals in small groups inside their homes without masks or physical distancing. They can visit with unvaccinated people from one other household who are at low risk for severe disease.

“You can visit your grandparents if you’ve been vaccinated and they have been, too,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said. “If grandparents have been vaccinated, they can visit their daughter and her family even if they have not been vaccinated, so long as the daughter and her family are not at risk for severe disease.” Read more here.

Study: COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, even for babies

COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective at protecting pregnant women and likely provide protection for their babies as well, according to a new study. The research, published last week in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, examined 131 vaccine recipients, including 84 who were pregnant, 31 who were breastfeeding, and 16 who weren’t pregnant as a control group. 

Earlier studies suggested the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna would be safe and effective. But this is the largest study to date looking at the immune responses of pregnant and lactating women to vaccination. Read more.

– Karen Weintraub

Californians age 50-64 rush to get vaccine before expansion

Before California throws open its coronavirus vaccine program to all adults on April 15, there will be a two-week window when millions of people between the ages of 50 and 64 can get their shot. The rollout for this age group, who become eligible on Thursday, has prompted an uptick in appointment requests and has raised concerns about whether two weeks is enough to get to everybody when there is uncertainty about supply levels as well as lingering questions about accessibility.

The California Department of Finance, which monitors population data, projects that there are 7.2 million people in the state 50 to 64. Currently, only about 23% of Californians in that age group have received at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the state, compared with 37% of people 18 to 49, likely because of their occupation or because they have qualifying health conditions.

Contributing: Mike Stucka, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/03/28/covid-news-40-million-vaccine-doses-either-awaiting-use-wasted/7033428002/