Axios

School closures across the country and a lack of in-person learning due to the coronavirus is "a national emergency," President Biden stressed in a pre-Super Bowl interview with CBS on Sunday.

Why it matters: Schools' handling of the pandemic reportedly vary wildly from district to district, and one nonprofit study from October estimates that as many as 3 million U.S. students have gone without any formal education — virtual or in-person — since March.

South Africa stopped the distribution of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine on Sunday, after researchers found that the vaccine "provides minimal protection" against infection from the new strain first identified in the country, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: A halted vaccine rollout is a huge setback for South Africa as it struggles to curb the spread of the virus and its variant and the country approaches 50,000 deaths.

The highly contagious coronavirus variant first detected in the U.K. is doubling in the U.S. nearly every 10 days, according to a new study released on Sunday.

Why it matters: The preprint study from MedRxiv, which has not been peer-reviewed, comes after the CDC and top infectious disease experts have warned that the highly transmissible COVID-19 variant could become the dominant U.S. strain.

A group of 60 Black members of the National Academy of Medicine signed on to a New York Times op-ed published Sunday urging Black Americans to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Why it matters: Black communities in the U.S. have borne a disproportionate brunt of the effects of the pandemic. Data also now suggests they are being vaccinated at far lower rates than white Americans in the states that collect such information, writes Axios Vitals author Caitlin Owens.

Sarah Gilbert, a co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, told the BBC on Sunday that an updated vaccine will likely be available this fall to combat the COVID-19 strain first detected in South Africa.

Why it matters: The variant found in South Africa has concerned experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, and there have been several confirmed cases of the likely more transmissible strain in the U.S.

The NFL's giant COVID-19 experiment ends Sunday with the improbable feat of an on-time Super Bowl, capping a season with no canceled games.

Why it matters: The season suggests that with the right resources, safety measures and cooperation — all of which have been lacking in the general U.S. response — life can go on during the pandemic without uncontrolled spread of the virus. 

China's health regulator has approved the two-shot coronavirus vaccine developed by domestic drugmaker Sinovac Biotech Ltd. for general public use.

Why it matters: Sinovac's CoronaVac is the second vaccine to receive authorization in the country. State-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm produced the first vaccine to receive approval in China last December.

A startup has developed a way to use AI to detect when doctors may be prescribing the wrong drug — or overprescribing opioids.

Why it matters: A system that could identify prescription mistakes before they happen could help save the thousands of Americans who die each year because of preventable medication errors, and it could contribute to controlling the opioid epidemic.

The drone startup Zipline announced this week that it is planning to deliver COVID-19 vaccines wherever it operates — including in the U.S.

Why it matters: Aerial drones could be a useful solution to the challenge of getting vaccines to people in sparsely populated rural areas, while laying the groundwork for a new era of drone delivery.

The Supreme Court late Friday night lifted some restrictions on religious services in California spurred by the coronavirus pandemic, ruling the state cannot ban churches from holding indoor services, but can cap services at 25% capacity.

Details: The court ruled in two cases where churches sued the state over COVID-related restrictions, also declined to stop California from enforcing a ban on indoor singing and chanting.

As the debate over reopening America's classrooms heats up, one overlooked factor is the significant racial gap in whether parents are ready to send their children back to school.

Why it matters: Study after study shows that kids in remote schooling are suffering lifelong learning loss. But the concerns many Black and Latino parents express about returning their children to classrooms — concerns fueled by higher numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths and historically underfunded schools — need to be answered first.