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Pregnant Girls Might Obtain Covid Vaccines Safely, W.H.O. Says

Pregnant Women May Receive Covid Vaccines Safely, W.H.O. Says

The World Health Organization on Friday changed its guidelines for pregnant women considering a Covid-19 vaccine and abandoned opposition to immunization for most expectant mothers unless they were at high risk.

The change came after an outcry from WHO’s previous stance that the organization “did not recommend vaccinating pregnant women with the vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna”.

Several experts expressed their disappointment with the WHO’s earlier position on Thursday. The experts found that this was inconsistent with the guidelines of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the same topic and would confuse pregnant women who are looking for clear advice.

The vaccines manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have not been tested on pregnant women, but have not shown any harmful effects in animal studies. According to experts, the technology used in the vaccines is generally known to be safe.

The WHO’s new wording reflects this information:

“Based on what we know about this type of vaccine, we have no particular reason to believe that there are any specific risks that would outweigh the benefits of vaccination for pregnant women.” The recommendation is now closely aligned with the position of the CDC.

Experts praised the postponement and welcomed the agreement between the world’s leading public health organizations on this important issue.

“I was very pleased to see that WHO has changed its guidelines for offering the Covid-19 vaccine to pregnant women,” said Dr. Denise Jamieson, an obstetrician at Emory University and a member of the Covid Expert Group at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The association was among the many women’s health organizations that urged Pfizer and Moderna to speed up vaccine testing in pregnant women.

“The WHO’s more permissive language is an important opportunity for pregnant women to get vaccinated and protect themselves from the serious risks of Covid-19,” said Dr. Jamieson. “This impressively rapid overhaul by WHO is good news for pregnant women and their babies.”

Pregnant women have traditionally been excluded from clinical trials, so there is a lack of scientific data on the safety of drugs and vaccines in women and their unborn children. Vaccines are generally considered safe, and pregnant women have been encouraged to get immunized against influenza and other diseases since the 1960s, even though rigorous clinical studies have not been conducted to test them.

Pfizer will test its vaccine in pregnant women over the next few months, according to a company spokeswoman. And Moderna plans to set up a registry to monitor side effects in women who have been immunized with the vaccine.

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Why complaints about docs are falling regardless of pressured system

Why complaints about doctors are falling despite stressed system

The American healthcare system may buckle under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, but one number is inexplicably falling.

Disciplinary measures against doctors fell sharply in the first nine months of 2020. The National Practitioner Data Bank, a federal registry of health professionals and institutions, has recorded 4,393 reports of adverse behavior against doctors. Compared to 5,225 reports over the same period in 2019, that’s a decrease of nearly 16%, the U.S. Department of Health told CNBC.

The total includes 3,752 actions taken by government regulatory agencies, compared to 4,521 in the same period in 2019. Also in 2020, 641 doctors had limited or suspended their clinical privileges through September, compared to 704 in the same period last year.

The reasons for the decline are unclear. The pandemic forced widespread delays in non-Covid proceedings. In one study, more than 28 million elective surgeries were delayed or canceled in 2020. Patient advocates also point to the shortage of doctors during the pandemic, the crushes of critically ill patients, and even the heroic status of healthcare workers serving on the front lines of the crisis.

The president of the Federation of State Medical Boards denied that the shortage of doctors was a factor in states taking fewer measures against doctors over the past year.

“The guiding light, our north star, is the protection of the public,” said Dr. Humayun Chaudhry told USA Today in September. “It’s the facts of the complaint and the case. The problem of the workforce is not taken into account in individual cases.”

However, the decline in reports to the National Practitioner Data Bank almost certainly doesn’t mean the problem physicians’ problem is gone, patient safety experts say, despite extensive reforms in recent years.

“The mechanism is there. Indeed, it is required. And yet it does not work,” said Dr. Lucian Leape, Professor of Retired Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Leape, whose 1994 publication “Error in Medicine” is widely recognized as revolutionizing the profession’s approach to medical errors, founded the Lucian Leape Institute, a think tank to improve patient safety.

Leape told CNBC’s American Greed that despite numerous safeguards – such as requiring incidents to be reported to the database and doctors being certified and assessed regularly – there are still too many incentives to maintain the status quo.

“Even if you get it right,” he said, “people fight back viciously because their livelihoods are at stake. And that’s a deterrent. Nobody wants to spend their time in court defending the fact that they’re doing this Guy asked to go. “

Activate ‘Dr. Death’

Leape is quick to point out that problem physicians are a tiny part of the profession. However, their effects can be catastrophic.

Neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, who came to be known as “Dr. Death,” was able to practice in at least four Texas hospitals over a period of three years, despite dozens of botched surgeries and two patient deaths. In 2017, a Texas judge sentenced 49-year-old Duntsch to life imprisonment for deliberately injuring an elderly person.

This photo from the Dallas County Jail shows Christopher Duntsch. A Texas jury found the neurosurgeon guilty on Tuesday, February 14, 2017 of mutilating patients who had turned to him for surgery to fix debilitating injuries.

Dallas County Jail via AP

The patient, 74-year-old Mary Efurd, became paraplegic after Duntsch botched her spinal surgery. Fellow surgeon Robert Henderson, who took care of Efurd after the incident, told CNBC’s American Greed that the complications were so severe that he wondered if Duntsch was really a doctor.

“I couldn’t imagine someone taking an anatomy class in medical school doing so much harm,” said Henderson.

In fact, Duntsch had an extensive and real resume, including a medical degree from the University of Tennessee at Memphis and a prestigious scholarship in spinal surgery.

Duntsch did not respond to several American Greed requests for comment.

Prosecutors said Duntsch could stay active that long because of the many cracks in a system designed to root out bad doctors. Alleged safeguards include a requirement to report incidents to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which Congress set up specifically in 1986 to prevent problem doctors from moving from hospital to hospital.

Two days after a committee at Baylor Plano Hospital in Dallas found that Duntsch had violated his standard of care in two botched operations, Duntsch simply resigned instead of being discharged. A fire would have been reported to the database. There was no resignation.

The hospital has since changed its name to Baylor Scott & White Health. Spokeswoman Jennifer McDowell declined to go into details of the case.

“Dr. Duntsch, who started his career in North Texas with impressive references and excellent referrals, ended up hurting families, employees, and the trust we all have in doctors,” McDowell said in an email. “Out of respect for the affected patients and families and the privilege of a number of details, we will continue to limit our comments. There is nothing more important to us than serving our community through high-quality, trustworthy healthcare.”

In another case, Dallas Medical Center granted Duntsch temporary privileges. He wasn’t hired. The reporting requirements for the database only apply to employees.

“Everyone knows when to get in touch, and no one likes breaking someone’s reputation,” said Michelle Shugart, Dallas County’s assistant district attorney who prosecuted Duntsch. “And so they are using these little techniques to find ways to avoid reporting someone.”

In a statement to American Greed, Dallas Medical Center spokesman Vince Falsarella said the facility had been in new ownership since Duntsch’s time there.

“The administration that existed at that time is no longer in the hospital,” he wrote. “Dallas Medical Center has a thorough physician certification process in place that meets all industry standards, best practices, and guidelines and regulations from the National Practitioner Data Bank to ensure the safety of our patients.”

Another hospital, the Legacy Surgical Center in Frisco, north of Dallas, said it had changed hands since Duntsch began practicing there. The fourth, University General in Houston, has closed.

None of the hospitals have been charged with criminal misconduct. The Texas Department of Health fined Baylor Plano $ 100,000 for violating the state’s administrative law in 2014, but subsequently overturned the finding without explanation.

Shugart believes some facilities were motivated by something more sinister than just avoiding the hassle of reporting a bad doctor.

“Neurosurgeons are one of the most lucrative aspects of the hospital business,” she said. “The financial incentives are a big part of what drives him and the people around him.”

Leape, the patient safety expert, said bad doctors don’t operate alone.

“These people have enablers,” he said. “This neurosurgeon didn’t take his patients out of thin air. Doctors refer patients. Neurosurgeons receive their patients from other doctors.”

Attention patient

To make matters worse, patients have few options to see a doctor in advance. The National Practitioner Database is confidential to the general public – you can find out the number of complaints, but not the doctors or institutions behind them.

For this reason, Leape believes it is important for patients who have had a bad experience with a doctor to report it.

“You need to make some noise,” he said. “You should go to the board of directors of the hospital and say, ‘You have to do something about this person’.”

Ultimately, Leape believes the rules need to be tightened. He advocates a federal patient safety agency to enforce standards and remove bad doctors, rather than the current patchwork of state regulators and hospital committees.

“We ask people to regulate their own profession and regulate themselves, and people just can’t,” he said.

Leape said hospitals – large chains in particular – have begun to prioritize patient safety. But he said that consciousness can only go so far.

“The systems are only as good as the people in them,” he said. “Systems work when people make them work.”

See how Christopher Duntsch got the nickname “Dr. Death” and how he got away with it for so long. Check out a NEW American Greed on Monday, February 1st at 10pm ET / PT on CNBC only.

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Which Covid Vaccine Ought to You Get? Specialists Weigh the Impact Towards Extreme Illness

Which Covid Vaccine Should You Get? Experts Weigh the Effect Against Severe Disease

At first glance, the results reported on Friday of the long-awaited study of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine may have been disappointing. Overall effectiveness – the ability to prevent moderate and severe illnesses – was reported at 72 percent in the United States, 66 percent in Latin American countries, and 57 percent in South Africa.

These numbers are well below the high bar set by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, the first two emergency vaccines approved in the United States, which had an overall effectiveness of 94 to 95 percent.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and now President Biden’s leading medical advisor on the coronavirus pandemic, acknowledged the remarkable difference at a briefing Friday.

“If you woke up and say, ‘Well, go to the left door and you get 94 or 95 percent, go to the right door and you get 72 percent. ‘Which door do you want to go to? ”He asked.

Dr. However, Fauci said the most important measure is the ability to prevent serious illness, which means keeping people out of the hospital and preventing deaths. For Johnson & Johnson, that result was 85 percent in all of the countries it was tested in, including South Africa, where a rapidly spreading variant of the virus had shown some ability to evade vaccines.

More important than preventing “some pain and a sore throat,” said Dr. Fauci, is the defense against serious illnesses, especially in people with underlying diseases and in older adults who are more likely to become seriously ill and die of Covid. 19th

“If you can prevent serious illness in a high percentage of people, it will soothe the stress of human suffering and death in this epidemic that we are seeing it right now,” said Dr. Fauci, “As we know, over the past few weeks our healthcare system has been burdened by the number of people requiring hospitalization and intensive care.”

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, compared the ability to prevent serious illness to the effects of flu vaccinations, which may not always prevent influenza completely, but make it less severe.

“The same seems to be true here, in circumstances where this variant clearly makes it a little harder to get the most forceful response you want,” said Dr. Collins. “But it still looks very good for serious illnesses.”

The Moderna vaccine also showed high 100 percent effectiveness against serious illnesses. The Pfizer BioNTech appeared to be too, but the total number of severe cases in the study was too few to be certain.

However, the researchers caution that trying to compare effectiveness between new and previous studies can be misleading because the virus is developing quickly and the studies have to some extent examined different pathogens.

“You have to realize that Pfizer and Moderna had an advantage,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, in an interview. “They did their clinical studies before the variant strains became very clear. Johnson & Johnson not only tested their vaccine against the standard strain, but they also had the variants. “

The best way to stop the spread of mutants and prevent new ones from emerging is to vaccinate as many people as you can as soon as possible, says Dr. Fauci and other researchers. Viruses can’t mutate if they can’t replicate, and they can’t replicate if they can’t get into cells. Keeping them away from people by immunizing them can kill the process.

In addition to the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna vaccines already in use in the US, three more may soon be available: those made by Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca’s vaccine has already been approved in the UK and other countries.

Globally, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected to play an important role, especially in low- and middle-income countries, as it works after just one shot, is relatively inexpensive, and is easier to store and distribute than Pfizer-BioNTech’s manufactured vaccines and Moderna, as it does not share their strict requirements for freezing and chilling.

People waiting to be vaccinated may wonder if they will be able to choose vaccines and if they should hold out and wait until the one that looks best to them becomes available.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

Am I eligible for the Covid vaccine in my state?

Currently more than 150 million people – almost half of the population – can be vaccinated. But each state makes the final decision on who goes first. The country’s 21 million healthcare workers and three million long-term care residents were the first to qualify. In mid-January, federal officials asked all states to open eligibility to anyone over the age of 65 and adults of any age with medical conditions that are at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying of Covid-19. Adults in the general population are at the end of the line. If federal and state health authorities can remove bottlenecks in the distribution of vaccines, everyone over the age of 16 is eligible as early as spring or early summer. The vaccine has not been approved in children, although studies are ongoing. It can take months before a vaccine is available to anyone under the age of 16. For the latest information on vaccination guidelines in your area, see your state health website

Is the Vaccine Free?

You shouldn’t have to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine, despite being asked for insurance information. If you don’t have insurance, you should still get the vaccine for free. Congress passed law this spring banning insurers from applying cost-sharing such as a co-payment or deductible. It consisted of additional safeguards prohibiting pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals from charging patients, including uninsured patients. Even so, health experts fear that patients will end up in loopholes that make them prone to surprise bills. This could be the case for people who are charged a doctor’s visit fee with their vaccine or for Americans who have certain types of health insurance that are not covered by the new regulations. If you received your vaccine from a doctor’s office or emergency clinic, talk to them about possible hidden costs. To make sure you don’t get a surprise invoice, it is best to get your vaccine at a Department of Health vaccination center or local pharmacy as soon as the shots become more widely available.

Can I choose which vaccine to get?How long does the vaccine last? Do I need another next year?

That is to be determined. It is possible that Covid-19 vaccinations will become an annual event just like the flu vaccination. Or the vaccine may last longer than a year. We’ll have to wait and see how durable the protection from the vaccines is. To determine this, researchers will track down vaccinated people to look for “breakthrough cases” – those people who get Covid-19 despite being vaccinated. This is a sign of a weakening of protection and gives researchers an indication of how long the vaccine will last. They will also monitor the levels of antibodies and T cells in the blood of people who have been vaccinated to see if and when a booster shot might be needed. It is conceivable that people might need boosters every few months, once a year, or just every few years. It’s just a matter of waiting for the data.

Does my employer need vaccinations?Where can I find out more?

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccines expert at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital, told CNN that Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines would be his first choice when they were abundant because of their higher overall effectiveness.

But right now there aren’t enough of these vaccines.

If he couldn’t get the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine or the Moderna vaccine, he would do the Johnson & Johnson shot, said Dr. Offit – as long as the data the company will submit to the Food and Drug Administration looks as good as the company reported on Friday.

He said Johnson & Johnson’s Serious Disease Reduction Report was a strong selling point.

“That’s what you want,” said Dr. Offit. “You want to stay out of the hospital and out of the morgue.”

He noted that the company was also investigating a two-shot regimen that could increase its effectiveness.

People taking the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be able to safely get a Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna vaccine later if a booster shot is needed, he said.

Dr. Schaffner said he had just attended a meeting with other public health experts and they asked each other what they would say to their spouses or partners if they could get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine tomorrow or had to wait three weeks Pfizer- BioNTech’s or Moderna’s.

“We all said, ‘Get it tomorrow,” said Dr. Schaffner. “The virus is bad. You risk another three weeks of exposure instead of receiving protection tomorrow.”

He said the 85 percent effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson against serious illnesses is a little less than that reported by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, “but it’s still damn high.”

It is not yet known whether it is safe to take a different type of vaccine every now and then, said Dr. Schaffner, adding, “We haven’t investigated this.”

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There can be sufficient Covid vaccines for the ‘complete U.S. grownup inhabitants by June,’ physician says

J&J plans to have 100 million vaccines for Americans by spring, board member says

Dr. Johnson & Johnson board member Mark McClellan told CNBC Friday that there could be enough vaccinations for the entire US adult population by the summer.

“Assuming that accurate verification of the J&J data is no longer possible, we will have the capacity between Moderna, Pfizer and J&J to have enough vaccines available for the entire US adult population by June “said McClellan, a former FDA commissioner, said on” The News with Shepard Smith. ”

The US plans to buy 200 million doses of Covid vaccine from Moderna and Pfizer. The Department of Health and Human Services will increase its vaccine supply to states from 8.6 million to at least 10 million doses per week. To date, states have received more than 49 million doses, but only about half of those actually landed in people’s arms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency reports that the US fires just over a million shots every day.

McClellan that the US should significantly increase the number of shots given per day and “should bring our ability to vaccinate closer to 3 million doses per day.”

The US has ordered 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine, which the company plans to deliver by June. J&J plans to apply for an emergency permit next week. If J & J’s vaccine is FDA approved, it will be the third emergency approved vaccine in the U.S. Pfizer’s vaccine was approved by the FDA on December 11th, and Moderna’s was approved a week later.

The efficacy numbers for J&J vaccines were lower than for Pfizer and Moderna. Pfizer’s vaccine was found to be 95% effective against Covid-19, while Moderna’s vaccine was about 94% effective. J & J’s vaccine was found to be 66% overall effective in preventing moderate to severe Covid.

Host Shepard Smith asked McClellan about the lower efficacy numbers compared to Pfizer and Moderna, explaining to Smith, “We are fighting a different virus today than three months ago when previous studies were done.”

In addition, J&J conducted its test on three continents, and the level of protection varied depending on the region. The vaccine showed an overall effectiveness of 72% in the US and 66% in Latin America. In South Africa, where the dangerous B.1.351 strain of Covid caused spikes in some cases, the J&J vaccine showed 57% effectiveness.

“Unfortunately, in three months’ time, we’ll likely be fighting another virus. The most important thing to winning this fight is getting as many people as possible vaccinated,” said McClellan. “The faster we shoot in the arms, the more people will be vaccinated here in this country and around the world, the better we can contain this further spread and further damage from Covid.”

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‘It’s Numbing’: 9 Retired Nuns in Michigan Die of Covid-19

‘It’s Numbing’: Nine Retired Nuns in Michigan Die of Covid-19

The religious sisters, who were retired at the Dominican Life Center in Michigan, followed strict rules to avoid a coronavirus outbreak: they were kept in isolation, visitors were banned, and masks were required from everyone on campus.

But months after it was held in check, it found its way in.

On Friday, the Adrian Dominican Sisters said nine sisters died from complications from Covid-19 on the Adrian campus, about 75 miles southwest of Detroit, in January.

“It’s numbing,” said Sister Patricia Siemen, head of the order. “We had six women die in 48 hours.”

The death of the sisters in Michigan contributed to a well-known trend in the spread of the virus as it destroys religious communities by infecting retired, aging populations of sisters and nuns who had tacitly dedicated their lives to others.

Now some of these sisters have come out into the open as details of their names, ages, and lifetimes are highlighted as part of the national discourse about Americans lost to the coronavirus.

“It’s a moment of reckoning with the place they now have in our culture,” said Kathleen Holscher, a professor who holds the Endowed Chair of Roman Catholic Studies at the University of New Mexico. “Fifty or 60 years ago you were the face of American Catholicism, in schools and in hospitals.”

Some of the women who died on the Adrian Dominican Sisters campus were nurses or teachers. Others had devoted decades of their lives to worship.

“Americans are being reminded that they are older and are still there,” said Dr. Holscher. “But now they live in these communal situations and take care of each other.”

Accounting for deaths in the nation’s religious communities began in the first half of 2020 as the country took note of the fatal transmission of the virus and the lives associated with it.

Last April, May and June 13 Felician sisters died of Covid-19 at the presentation of the Convent of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Michigan. They pursued teaching, pastoral care and prayer service.

In a suburb of Milwaukee, at least five sisters died at the Convent of Our Lady of the Angels as of April last year. They worked in parishes, schools and universities, taught English and music, and served the elderly and the poor.

In December, eight Roman Catholic sisters, educators, music teachers and social activists died of Covid-19-related diseases in a Wisconsin old people’s home in Notre Dame by Elm Grove, near Milwaukee.

“Nuns were the real grassroots workers in the Church,” said Jack Downey, professor of Catholic studies at the University of Rochester. “It is really the nuns that people interact with on a daily basis. You made Catholic life in the United States possible. “

Updated

Jan. 29, 2021, 4:46 p.m. ET

“This is how communities of nuns that go this way become particularly tragic,” he added.

While deaths have increased, losses have placed a focus on the future of these communities in a country where its population is not only shrinking but aging rapidly.

Michael Pasquier, a professor of religious studies and history at Louisiana State University, said interest in institutional religious life had waned since the 1960s, an era of cultural change that brought more women into the workplace. There are now about 40,000 Roman Catholic nuns or sisters in the country – mostly in the mid to late 1970s and older – compared to about 160,000 in the 1970s, he said.

The death toll from the virus, he said, “reminds us all that the makeup and face of Catholic sisters today are old.”

The losses have underscored the virus’ tendency to hunt down older adults, people with underlying medical conditions, and places where people are in close contact, such as nursing homes, which are particularly hard hit by the pandemic.

Dr. Holscher said the “poignant or tragic” part of the nuns’ deaths was that, unlike nursing homes, women forego a traditional family structure when entering religious life.

“They have no children, spouses or close family members,” she said. “And they signed up to take care of each other.”

Many of the aging religious orders took precautions in early 2020 to protect their communities. At Elm Grove, the nuns followed federal guidelines on masks and social distancing, as well as staggered meal times in the communal dining room.

The Dominican sisters imposed similar restrictions, including weekly tests for staff and sisters, cancellation of meals and personal prayers, and permission for the sisters to leave for medical appointments only.

“We worked so hard to keep it in check because when it gets into a building like a nursing home you are really pretty helpless,” said Sister Siemen. “The residents are already so vulnerable.”

However, on Jan. 14, the order announced that there had been an outbreak of nurses and workers at the Dominican Life Center, a qualified care center that had had a Covid-19 unit in place for months and not in use.

The first positive test took place on December 20th and several sisters died within weeks, some within days of each other.

Sister Jeannine Therese McGorray, 86, died on January 11 and Sister Esther Ortega, 86, died on January 14. Sister Dorothea Gramlich, 81, died on January 21.

Three sisters died on January 22nd: Sister Ann Rena Shinkey, 87; Sister Mary Lisa Rieman, 79; and Sister Charlotte Francis Moser, 86. The next day, Sister Mary Irene Wischmeyer, 94, and Sister Margaret Ann Swallow, 97, died. The last death was this week: Sister Helen Laier, 88, died Tuesday.

Sister Siemen said that the Order is used to mourning their sisters due to its aging population, but this series of losses has given them a sense of “solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to Covid. ”

Even so, she said that her faith helps them get through.

“There is obviously grief,” said Sister Siemen, “but as women of faith we know that going through this door of death is not the last for us.”

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United Airways warns hundreds of employees that their jobs are in danger

United Airlines warns thousands of workers that their jobs are at risk

A United Airlines Boeing 737-800 and a United Airlines A320 Airbus approaching San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco.

Louis Ribbon | Reuters

According to United Airlines, the jobs of around 14,000 employees will be at risk if a second round of federal aid expires this spring. This is the latest sign of the industry struggling to regain a foothold in the coronavirus pandemic.

Companies are required by law to notify employees in advance if their jobs are at risk, and this does not mean they will ultimately lose their jobs. United is turning to new voluntary measures to reduce headcount.

United and American Airlines recently began calling back thousands of employees who were on leave when the first round of state payroll ran out in the fall. Congress approved additional aid to industry last year on condition that they recall workers on leave and keep payrolls by March 31. United told employees last year that the callbacks would likely be temporary.

“Despite continued efforts to distribute vaccines, customer demand has not changed significantly since these employees were recalled,” the airline said in an employee report seen Friday by CNBC. “When the callbacks began, United said most of the employees who were recalled would be returning to their previous status due to the fall break around April 1st.”

United involuntarily took around 13,000 employees on leave in the fall as the terms of the $ 25 billion Congress approved for U.S. airlines last year expired. The number of workers receiving WARN notices is higher as some workers also voluntarily take leave or enroll in other optional programs.

Hawaiian Airlines flight attendants also receive vacation notifications, according to the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.

The AFA and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, American Airlines’ flight attendants union, wrote to President Joe Biden and the congressional officials on Friday asking them to extend airline payroll support until September 30th.

“Without immediate action in this area, key workers will again find themselves faced with incredible uncertainty as jobs will be lost and the cost of the job the airlines will be starting in the coming days will be reduced,” wrote AFA President Sara Nelson and APFA – President Julie Hedrick.

American Airlines cut around 19,000 jobs in the fall after the payroll had expired. The airline did not immediately comment on whether it would also send notifications about possible job cuts in the spring.

“If demand has not gotten much better by then … we will definitely have to address this if demand does not pick up,” said CEO Doug Parker on a call for earnings on Thursday. “We are already talking to our unions about things we can possibly do.”

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Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine Provides Sturdy Safety however Fuels Concern About Variants

Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine Offers Strong Protection but Fuels Concern About Variants

[Live updates: follow our coverage of the coronavirus]

Johnson & Johnson announced on Friday that its one-dose coronavirus vaccine provided strong protection against Covid-19, potentially offering the United States a third powerful tool in a desperate race against a worldwide rise in virus mutations.

But the results came with a significant cautionary note: The vaccine’s efficacy rate dropped from 72 percent in the United States to 57 percent in South Africa, where a highly contagious variant is driving most cases. Studies suggest that this variant also blunts the effectiveness of Covid vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax. The variant has spread to at least 31 countries, including the United States, where two cases were documented this week.

Johnson & Johnson said that it planned to apply for emergency authorization of the vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration as soon as next week, putting it on track to receive clearance later in February.

“This is the pandemic vaccine that can make a difference with a single dose,” said Dr. Paul Stoffels, the chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease, regardless of what variant caused it, the company said. While less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Johnson & Johnson’s is still considered a strong vaccine by scientists. Annual flu vaccines, for example, are typically 40 to 60 percent effective.

The company’s announcement comes as the Biden administration is pushing to immunize Americans faster even with a tight vaccine supply. White House officials have been counting on Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to ease the shortfall. But the company may only have about seven million doses ready when the F.D.A. decides whether to authorize it, according to federal health officials familiar with its production, and about 30 million doses by early April.

The variant from South Africa, known as B.1.351, could make things even worse for the vaccine push. Given the speed at which the variant swept through that country, it is conceivable that by April it could make up a large fraction of infections in the United States.

The fact that four vaccines backed by the federal government seem to be less effective against the B.1.351 variant has unsettled federal officials and vaccine experts alike. Facing this uncertainty, many researchers said it was imperative to get as many people vaccinated as possible — quickly. Lowering the rate of infection could thwart the contagious variants while they are still rare, and prevent other viruses from gaining new mutations that could cause more trouble.

“If ever there was reason to vaccinate as many people as expeditiously as we possibly can with the vaccine that we have right now, now is the time,” Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said in an interview. “Because the less people that get infected, the less chance you’re going to give this particular mutant a chance to become dominant.”

As the United States scrambles to get enough vaccines, the country is turning into something of an evolutionary experiment. The B.1.351 variant is one of several that have arrived in the country or originated here, all with the ability to spread faster than other variants.

“The pandemic is a lot more complicated now than it was a couple months ago,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston.

Vaughan Cooper, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Pittsburgh, said that all the new variants were likely evolving quietly for months before bursting on the scene. “I think we’re going to see many stories like this,” he said.

Federal regulators are also still waiting on data from Johnson & Johnson’s new manufacturing facility in Baltimore that prove it can mass-produce the vaccine. The company is counting on that factory to help reach its contractual pledge to the federal government of 100 million doses by the end of June.

If Johnson & Johnson can deliver vaccines quickly enough to the United States, it might be able to help drive down cases before variants make things worse. Since the vaccine requires only a single shot — unlike the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which require two — that delivery would translate into full coverage for 100 million people.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has another advantage that might help speed up the rollout. It can stay viable in a refrigerator for three months, while the two authorized vaccines have to be kept frozen. That gives the company an edge not just in reaching more isolated parts of the United States, but in getting the vaccine to remote areas of the world that could otherwise seed more aggressive mutants.

“I hope this vaccine gets approved as soon as possible to reduce disease burden around the world,” said Akiko Iwasaki, immunologist at Yale University. She pointed out that the shot greatly reduced the number of severe Covid cases, even those caused by the variant. “This is a really great result.”

Still, Johnson & Johnson and other vaccine makers must prepare for the B.1.351 variant or another one surging to dominance and demanding new vaccines. “You’ve got to be nimble enough to be able to adapt by upgrading our vaccines that match the dominant strain,” Dr. Fauci said.

Exactly when to make that switch will be a difficult decision, because the viruses are spreading unpredictably, and manufacturing new doses will be a huge undertaking.

“The implications of that are big. You would not take that choice lightly,” said John D. Grabenstein, an epidemiologist with the Immunization Action Coalition, a nonprofit organization that disseminates information about vaccines. “It’s not doomsday. It’s just that we are going to need a bigger boat.”

Johnson & Johnson’s announcement came one day after Novavax said an early analysis of its 15,000-person trial in Britain had revealed that the two-dose vaccine had an efficacy rate of nearly 90 percent there. But in a small trial in South Africa, the efficacy rate dropped to just under 50 percent.

Johnson & Johnson presented only a summary of findings of its clinical trial. The vaccine was 85 percent effective in preventing severe disease in all three regions where the trial was run: the United States, Latin America and South Africa. After 28 days, none of the vaccinated participants who developed Covid-19 had to be hospitalized.

The company reported that the vaccine’s protective effect seems to increase with time. But without long-term data on immunity, scientists and regulators do not yet know whether the vaccine’s efficacy peaks at some point before dropping.

Covid-19 Vaccines ›

Answers to Your Vaccine Questions

Am I eligible for the Covid vaccine in my state?

Currently more than 150 million people — almost half the population — are eligible to be vaccinated. But each state makes the final decision about who goes first. The nation’s 21 million health care workers and three million residents of long-term care facilities were the first to qualify. In mid-January, federal officials urged all states to open up eligibility to everyone 65 and older and to adults of any age with medical conditions that put them at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from Covid-19. Adults in the general population are at the back of the line. If federal and state health officials can clear up bottlenecks in vaccine distribution, everyone 16 and older will become eligible as early as this spring or early summer. The vaccine hasn’t been approved in children, although studies are underway. It may be months before a vaccine is available for anyone under the age of 16. Go to your state health website for up-to-date information on vaccination policies in your area

Is the vaccine free?

You should not have to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine, although you will be asked for insurance information. If you don’t have insurance, you should still be given the vaccine at no charge. Congress passed legislation this spring that bars insurers from applying any cost sharing, such as a co-payment or deductible. It layered on additional protections barring pharmacies, doctors and hospitals from billing patients, including those who are uninsured. Even so, health experts do worry that patients might stumble into loopholes that leave them vulnerable to surprise bills. This could happen to those who are charged a doctor visit fee along with their vaccine, or Americans who have certain types of health coverage that do not fall under the new rules. If you get your vaccine from a doctor’s office or urgent care clinic, talk to them about potential hidden charges. To be sure you won’t get a surprise bill, the best bet is to get your vaccine at a health department vaccination site or a local pharmacy once the shots become more widely available.

Can I choose which vaccine I get?How long will the vaccine last? Will I need another one next year?

That is to be determined. It’s possible that Covid-19 vaccinations will become an annual event, just like the flu shot. Or it may be that the benefits of the vaccine last longer than a year. We have to wait to see how durable the protection from the vaccines is. To determine this, researchers are going to be tracking vaccinated people to look for “breakthrough cases” — those people who get sick with Covid-19 despite vaccination. That is a sign of weakening protection and will give researchers clues about how long the vaccine lasts. They will also be monitoring levels of antibodies and T cells in the blood of vaccinated people to determine whether and when a booster shot might be needed. It’s conceivable that people may need boosters every few months, once a year or only every few years. It’s just a matter of waiting for the data.

Will my employer require vaccinations?Where can I find out more?

Dr. Stoffels said the company was still waiting for more data on whether the vaccine can protect against asymptomatic infection.

The company is preparing a lengthy briefing document it will submit to the F.D.A. in its application for authorization. The agency’s scientists will review the raw data from the trial and present their own analysis.

Unlike the messenger RNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, Johnson & Johnson uses an adenovirus, which normally causes the common cold. While adenovirus-based vaccines have been investigated for some three decades, they have yet to be licensed for use in the United States.

Johnson & Johnson’s Ebola vaccine became the first approved adenovirus-based vaccine for any disease when European regulators gave it the green light last July. Astra-Zeneca and the University of Oxford used a different adenovirus for their coronavirus vaccine, which is now authorized in Britain and other countries. Russian scientists created their Sputnik V vaccine from adenoviruses as well.

Johnson & Johnson received $456 million from Operation Warp Speed to support its research. In July, the government agreed to purchase 100 million doses for $1 billion if it proved safe and effective.

That same month, the company moved into clinical trials, which found that a single shot produced a strong immune response, consistent with experiments done on monkeys. Johnson & Johnson began the final “Phase 3” trial in September, again using a single dose. It recruited volunteers in the United States, South Africa and Latin America.

Half of the volunteers received the vaccine, and half received a placebo. The company then had to wait. Only when enough people in the trial got Covid-19 would an independent board of advisers look at the results to see how many sick volunteers were vaccinated — a process known as unblinding.

Late last year, surges of coronavirus infections accelerated the trial toward unblinding. In December, Johnson & Johnson decided it would not need to recruit 60,000 volunteers as it originally planned. It capped the trial at 45,000.

Like other vaccine developers, Johnson & Johnson was required by the F.D.A. to also record information about adverse events experienced by the volunteers for the first few months after vaccination.

Dr. Barouch, who led the team that designed the vaccine and tested it on animals last year, had to wait for months for the unblinding. “I’m thinking a lot about it,” he said in a Jan. 11 interview. “But, no, I don’t have champagne ready to go.”

After he learned the results, Dr. Barouch said he was delighted. “I think this vaccine will have a public health benefit throughout the world,” he said.

Johnson & Johnson is also moving forward with other trials of the vaccine to see how it can be improved. In December it began a trial with two doses. Dr. Fauci was optimistic that people who get a so-called prime boost may enjoy even more protection.

“If they get a prime boost, it’s entirely conceivable that they can get up to 90-plus percent,” he said.

In addition, Dr. Stoffels said that Johnson & Johnson was tailoring a version of its vaccine with a protein patterned after the B.1.351 variant. It could potentially deploy it in countries where that version of the virus was a threat.

“Pretty much all vaccine developers now are having that conversation,” said Dr. Peter J. Hotez, a vaccine expert with the Baylor School of Medicine and the creator of a different coronavirus vaccine.

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New coronavirus variants are fueling a ‘second wave’ in Africa, WHO warns

New coronavirus variants are fueling a ‘second wave’ in Africa, WHO warns

Funeral directors wearing personal protective equipment carry a coffin during the funeral of a COVID-19 victim amid a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) nationwide lockdown at Olifantsvlei Cemetery, southwest of Joburg, South Africa, on Jan. 6, 2021.

Siphiwe Sibeko | Reuters

According to the World Health Organization, new and more contagious variants of Covid-19 are spreading across Africa, causing an increase in infections and deaths.

In the week leading up to Thursday, more than 175,000 new cases and more than 6,200 deaths were reported across the continent, the WHO said in an update, while infection rates were between December 29 and January 25 compared to the previous four weeks increased by 50%.

The number of deaths doubled to 15,000 over the same period, concentrated in 10 mainly South and North African countries. Infection rates are increasing in 22 countries.

“The variant that was first discovered in South Africa has quickly spread beyond Africa. So what keeps me awake at night is that it is very likely to be circulating in a number of African countries,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa , Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, at a virtual press conference on Thursday.

The variant first discovered in South Africa leads to record infection rates on the subcontinent and has now been identified in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya and the French region in the Indian Ocean in Mayotte, Zambia, together with 24 countries outside Africa.

The highly contagious strain originally identified in Great Britain has since found its way to Nigeria and Gambia.

The CDC in Africa has set up sequencing laboratories across the continent, and the WHO urged all nations to send at least 20 samples per month to the sequencing laboratories to coordinate a targeted response.

“In addition to the new flavors, COVID-19 fatigue and the aftermath of year-end gatherings can create a perfect storm and fuel Africa’s second wave and overwhelming health facilities,” Moeti said.

“Africa is at a crossroads. We need to hold on to our guns and duplicate the tactic that we know works so well. That is wearing masks, hand washing and safe social distancing. Countless lives depend on it.”

Infections last week fell slightly in South Africa, the worst-hit country on a continent that has largely avoided the exponential spread of the virus that stalled many major economies in various places over the past year.

As of Friday morning, South Africa had recorded 1,437,798 cases of Covid-19 and 43,105 deaths. The entire continent has reported around 3.5 million cases and 88,985 deaths, according to a BBC data aggregation compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

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Serving to a Teen Who Is Indignant About Home Guidelines on Covid

Helping a Teen Who Is Angry About House Rules on Covid

Our adolescence columnist, psychologist Lisa Damour, answers a reader’s question. The question has been processed.

[To submit a question, email AskDrDamour@nytimes.com.]

Q. We have a very difficult time with our 15 year old grandson who lives with us. He finally made friends after fighting socially and wanting to hang out with them, but they don’t have social distance and don’t wear masks. Some of their families don’t really believe in this pandemic. It’s an absolute mess in our house because he’s struggling to be able to do things. He says he’s sick of Covid because while he stays most of his friends don’t and go about their lives like nothing has changed. He’s angry and depressed and we don’t know what to do.

A. You and your grandson find yourself in a heartbreaking situation for which there are no complete or satisfactory solutions. I can’t tell you how much I wish it wasn’t true. First of all, I want to acknowledge the painful reality of the circumstances you described.

Even if there are no perfect remedies, the situation can possibly be improved at least a little. First, note that you face two different, albeit related, challenges. One of them is that the pandemic has uprooted your grandson’s thriving social life. The other is that his perfectly legitimate need to stop being in touch with his new friends disrupted his relationships at home. On the first front, providing your grandson with more social opportunities than you already have can be difficult. On the second side, however, there may be ways to reconnect with your isolated teen who is now more in need of loving support than ever.

Empathy, empathy, empathy is the starting point. The situation he is in is miserable and not of his creation. It may be true that he is playing off and upset everyone around him, and that many other young people are in a similar situation, and that we are starting to catch a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. Try not to let these factors affect your compassion for your grandson. The adjustments we require of teens, both in terms of the way they lead their social lives and in terms of learning, are almost all the fun for teens and have been in place for almost a year. No compassion for that is too much.

Without any further agenda, convey the message to your grandson that you are very sorry that the pandemic has devastated his social life. Affectionately communicate that you understand how painful it must be to know that your friends will get together without him. Let him know that you cannot believe the pandemic has lasted this long (roughly a tenth of the life he is likely to remember) and that you understand that family support, especially for teenagers, cannot make up for the loss of contact Friends.

Compassion won’t change your dire circumstances, but it can still help alleviate your emotional suffering. Feeling alone with mental pain is far worse than believing that your plight is seen and acknowledged. So do everything you can to show your grandson that you are completely on his team.

Updated

Jan. 29, 2021, 6:05 p.m. ET

There’s another point of view that can help you build a better relationship with your grandson: Realize that he may be engaged in a persistent internal battle – between wanting to see his friends and knowing that their way of connecting to tie, does not exist. t sure – into an external fight between him and you.

It is by no means uncommon for teenagers to turn annoying personal dilemmas into fragile family struggles. Imagine a (post-pandemic) teenager who both wants to go to a concert and is also irritated by its sketchy venue. She might seek relief in recruiting her parents to take up one side of the battle. Voting that fight would be as simple as wholeheartedly lobbying to go to the concert while rolling her eyes when her people ask reasonable safety questions.

Try to free your grandson from this instinctive approach by articulating his dilemma warmly and compassionately. “It’s really frustrating,” you might say, “that your friends do things in a way that you can’t see for sure. I understand why you are so upset. “This could open the door for him to welcome you as a strategic ally.” We will do everything we can to help you see your friends safely. Can you go bike rides together or throw a ball outside? Guilt if you want to record the need to be outdoors and wearing masks with us. Just let us know if you can think of anything we could do to make this work. “

It is of course possible that your grandson does not like your proposal or wants to test the strength of his friendships. If so, there is still something else you can try. New research in the journal Child Development has shown that adolescents can endure pandemic conditions better when their families support their autonomy. Are there any options you can offer your grandson that were not previously given to him? Maybe you can tell him more about how or where he studies, what he does in his spare time, who controls the remote control or what else you can bring to the negotiating table. Own the limits of what you can offer. Acknowledge that choosing the dinner menu does not resolve problems with his friends. But having new freedoms at home might help him feel better enough.

Hopefully your efforts will lighten your grandson’s mood. If he remains unhappy no matter what you try, make an appointment with his doctor to have him checked for depression, which teenagers often experience as irritability rather than sadness.

You and your grandson are not alone in feeling drawn into a terrible corner by the pandemic. While we are so much beyond our control, we shouldn’t overlook the incremental ways we can comfort and support our teenagers.

This column does not constitute medical advice and does not replace professional psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns about your child’s well-being, talk to a doctor or mental health professional.

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Thailand finance minister on vaccine rollout, tourism restoration

Thailand finance minister on vaccine rollout, tourism recovery

SINGAPORE – Thailand will receive its first batch of vaccines next month and plans to produce its own vaccines, according to finance ministers.

Initially, about 100,000 cans will arrive, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

“The first vaccines will be coming to Thailand next month, the first lot,” he said, adding that Thai company Siam Bioscience will be working with Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to develop vaccines that will be useful for both Thailand and other countries are available.

He spoke to CNBC as part of the coverage of the World Economic Forum’s Davos agenda.

Thailand will begin rolling out vaccines on Feb. 14 and intends to vaccinate 19 million people in the first phase, its prime minister said on Wednesday, according to a Reuters report.

The Southeast Asian nation has According to the report, 26 million cans of AstraZeneca to be made by Siam Bioscience and 2 million cans of China’s Sinovac were secured. It has also reserved 35 million cans from AstraZeneca, it added.

Pandemic meets tourism

Termpittayapaisith also said tourism is expected to recover by the end of the year rather than mid-year as forecast. The Thai economy relies heavily on tourism for its growth, but the arrivals of foreign tourists almost completely stalled during the pandemic.

Tourist arrivals fell 66% to 6.69 million in the first six months of 2020 as countries around the world imposed bans and travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

By comparison, Thailand had a record 39.8 million tourists in 2019, according to Reuters. Tourist spending represented around 11% of Thailand’s GDP that year, the report said.

Commuters wearing face masks wait for a canal boat in Bangkok on March 2, 2020.

MLADEN ANTONOV | AFP | Getty Images

“We’re also focusing on domestic consumption so you can see that the economic package … encourages more spending on the basic economy,” Termpittayapaisith said, adding that it aims to offset the decline in international tourism revenue.

Thailand lowered its forecast for economic growth for this year from 4.5% to 2.8% on Thursday. According to the central bank, the economy is expected to shrink by 6.6% in 2020.

The country reported a record 959 cases on Tuesday, the highest daily increase since early January when it accelerated its testing, according to Reuters.

Thailand has one of the lowest reported cases in Southeast Asia. So far, 17,023 cases and 76 deaths have been reported, according to the Johns Hopkins University.