President-elect Joe Biden plans to release nearly all available coronavirus vaccine doses when he takes office, CNN reports.
Why it matters: Releasing nearly all doses would allow more people to get vaccinated with at least one dose. At the moment, the Trump administration is withholding half of U.S. vaccine production to ensure recipients receive their second dose, which is required by both the Moderna and Pfizer shots to ensure 95% efficacy.
The U.K. reported 1,325 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, marking its highest daily death toll yet.
Why it matters: The massive spike in deaths is in part fueled by a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant that's spreading rapidly throughout the United Kingdom and threatening to overwhelm hospital systems.
U.K. health regulators on Friday approved Moderna's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, making it the third vaccine to gain approval in the country.
Why it matters: The U.K. is the first country to have three approved vaccines — from Pfizer, Oxford-AstraZeneca and now Moderna — a milestone that comes as a new and highly infectious variant of the coronavirus continues to spread like wildfire.
The U.S. reported more than 4,000 new coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Why it matters: It is the first time the U.S. topped 4,000 new deaths in a single day, a record that comes as hospitals nationwide continue to be overwhelmed by an influx of COVID-19 patients.
Some political leaders and public health experts are rethinking strict prioritization for coronavirus vaccines, suggesting that it might make more sense to simply try to administer as many doses as possible as quickly as possible.
Why it matters: Especially while supplies are still limited, there's an inherent tension between trying to focus first on the people most at risk from the virus — including those most likely to spread it — and getting shots into arms at maximum speed.
Serbia joined Argentina, Belarus and Russia this week to be among the first countries to approve and administer Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
The big picture: Russia has blazed its own course in the vaccine race, relying entirely on a single, state-funded vaccine that was given emergency authorization before much data was available about its effectiveness.
The COVID-19 variants first detected in the U.K. and South Africa and now circulating globally aren't a current threatto the effectiveness of the first vaccines, but mutations will be closely monitored because "they could be an issue," NIAID director Anthony Fauci tells Axios.
The big picture: Vaccinations are underway, albeit with a slow start. The get-back-to-normal-goal depends on reaching 70%–85% herd immunity in the population, Fauci says. While there are some concerns the mutations might circumvent the vaccines, he says they pose more of a problem for certain treatments than for vaccines.
A coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac is 78% effective, Brazil officials announced Thursday.
Why it matters: Regulators in other countries are closely following the Phase 3 trials in Brazil. If the vaccine is approved for use, it could help fill a gap in access to coronavirus vaccines for many low- and middle-income countries.
Despite the slow roll out of vaccines so far, NIAID director Anthony Fauci says the COVID-19 vaccination campaign will ramp up fast enough that Americans should see "a degree of normality in the fall."
Driving the news: President-elect Biden is planning a program that will have "much more interaction between the federal government and the states than there are right now" in order to reach his goal of 1 million vaccines a day for 100 days, Fauci tells Axios.
Neighborhoods in cities like Chicago are rapidly becoming places where people can't fill medical prescriptions locally because their drugstores have shuttered or don't accept Medicaid.
Why it matters: The pandemic has accelerated the growth of "pharmacy deserts" as unprofitable and less-profitable stores have closed. It's a worrisome trend for the urban poor, who are less likely to try online pharmacies and more likely to let their drug regimens lapse when they can't get medication locally.
Alack of transparency by Chinese officials — particularly about the novel coronavirus' transmission and the obstruction of a top U.S. scientist from investigating it — played a significant role in allowing COVID-19 to spread outside China, NIAID director Anthony Fauci tells Axios.
The big picture: Axios first spoke with Fauci one year ago this week about the "mysterious pneumonia" in Wuhan, China, which he suspected was a novel coronavirus but was being reported by Chinese health officials as not that infectious.
Deaths and severe illness from the coronavirus continue to set new records almost every day, especially in the South and the West.
The big picture: More than 130,000 Americans are in the hospital today with COVID-19 infections. That's straining several states' health care systems and will keep pushing the virus' death toll higher and higher.
Newly elected Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-Kansas) has tested positive for COVID-19 and is following CDC guidelines but is not experiencing any symptoms, per a statement from his office on Thursday morning.
Why it matters: LaTurner voted on the Arizona objection in the Electoral College certification process on Wednesday night, records show. He took the test as part of Washington, D.C'.s requirements and "does not plan to return to the House floor for votes until he is cleared to do so," per the statement.
