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CDC panel recommends resuming use

CDC panel recommends resuming use

An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday recommended the US resume vaccine from Johnson and Johnson Covid-19, with the benefits outweighing the risk.

Panel members did not recommend U.S. regulators limit use of the vaccine based on age or gender, but suggested that the FDA consider adding a warning to women under the age of 50.

The recommendation, accepted 10: 4 with one abstention by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, will pave the way for US regulators to end their recommended break in the use of the J&J shot earlier this weekend.

The single shot is an important tool for delivering life-saving vaccines to hard-to-reach places where reliable cooling may not be available, e.g. A second dose is given in tribal, poorer areas, and rural communities, and for people who may not be able to return, US health officials say.

The committee, an external panel of experts advising the CDC, decided last week to postpone a decision on the vaccine while officials continued to study cases of six women aged 18 to 48 who had combined cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST ) developed with low platelets within about two weeks of receiving the shot.

The Food and Drug Administration and CDC on April 13 urged states to temporarily suspend use of J & J’s vaccine “out of caution” following reports of the rare blood clots. Within hours of the alert, more than a dozen states, as well as a few national pharmacies, suspended vaccinations with J & J’s vaccine, with some replacing scheduled appointments with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

Prior to Friday’s vote, the committee debated whether to recommend against J & J’s use of the vaccine or recommend it to U.S. regulators enforcing a warning label. The committee also considered limiting use of the vaccine based on age or other risk factors.

CVST occurs when a blood clot forms in the venous sinuses of the brain. It can prevent blood from draining from the brain and can eventually lead to bleeding and other brain damage. The blood clots are similar to those reported in some people who received the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca.

During the meeting on Friday, Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC official, said there have been no reports of the condition of those who received the Pfizer BioNTech mRNA vaccine. There have been three reports of CVST in patients receiving the Moderna vaccine, he said, even though the patients did not have the low platelet levels seen in the J&J recipients.

Platelets help the body form blood clots to heal wounds. US health officials warned against a treatment such as blood-thinning heparin in patients with low platelets, which could make their condition worse.

Rare blood clots with low platelets occur in women aged 18 to 49 at the rate of 7 per 1 million vaccinations for the J&J shot and 0.9 per 1 million in women aged 50 and over. This is evident from a slide presented at the CDC panel meeting. CDC has confirmed a total of 15 cases of rare blood clots, including 12 women who developed blood clots in the brain. Three women have died and seven remained in the hospital, according to slides.

There are no confirmed cases in men, although officials have stated that they are looking at potential additional cases.

Dr. Michael Streiff, a hematologist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, said the condition is very rare under normal circumstances. “I can tell you from my experience treating these patients that I’ve just never seen it before,” he told the committee during a presentation on Friday.

A CDC model presented at the meeting showed that not resuming use of J & J’s vaccine would delay immunization for all adults who wish to receive the shots by 14 days.

J&J executives told the committee that the vaccine’s benefits still outweighed the risks, adding that the shots would prevent death and hospitalizations. They proposed a new warning label for the vaccine explaining the risk of blood clots.

“We could expect that if 1 million people in the US were vaccinated with the J&J single-dose vaccine, there would be more than 2,000 deaths and 6,000 fewer hospital stays associated with Covid,” said Dr. Joanne Waldstreicher, Chief Medical Officer of J & J.

Earlier this week, J&J announced that it would restart its vaccine rollout in Europe after regulators there backed the single vaccine by recommending adding a warning to the label. The European Medicines Agency has examined all available evidence, including reports from the United States.

Last week, US health officials announced that the hiatus from using the vaccine would only be a few days, depending on what they learned from investigating the cases

Before the CDC meeting, Dr. Wilbur Chen, a member of the committee, told CNBC that he saw “a great amount of evidence” that the benefits of the J&J vaccine still outweighed its risks.

“I think we are ready to use this vaccine. We had to take an important pause to review this safety information in order to consider the risks. But I think there is a great amount of evidence of this to be of benefit that risk far outweighs that, “Chen, a professor at the University of Maryland Medical School, told Worldwide Exchange.

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A C.D.C. panel discusses new uncommon clot circumstances in J. & J. shot recipients and the way total threat appears to be very low.

A C.D.C. panel discusses new rare clot cases in J. & J. shot recipients and how overall risk seems to be very low.

Twelve of the 15 women in the confirmed cases developed blood clots in the brain. Many had blood clots elsewhere as well. Initial symptoms, which include a headache, usually begin six or more days after vaccination, said Dr. Shimabukuro. As the disorder develops, it can cause increased headaches, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, weakness in one side of the body, difficulty speaking, loss of consciousness, and seizures.

Dr. Shimabukuro found that seven of the women were obese, two had hypothyroidism, two had high blood pressure, and two were using oral contraceptives. It is not yet clear whether any of these factors could increase the risk of developing a coagulation disorder after vaccination.

Patients’ symptoms closely resemble a rare syndrome that can be caused by heparin, a widely used blood thinner, said Dr. Michael Streiff, a hematologist at Johns Hopkins University, joined the panel. Heparin, which could typically be used to treat blood clots, shouldn’t be used to treat these patients, he said.

Doctors should consider the rare coagulation disorder in patients who have blood clots and low platelet counts within three weeks of receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, said Dr. Streiff.

“Knowing that this syndrome exists will help improve outcomes,” he said.

The committee could recommend Johnson & Johnson put up a formal warning label about the side effects, as the company has done in the European Union. About 10 million doses or more of the vaccine, which is manufactured at the company’s facility in the Netherlands, are on shelves in the United States and could be used immediately.

The meeting comes as the federal government is also investigating issues at a Baltimore factory that is slated to meet the country’s demand. Emergent BioSolutions, the operator of the facility, has manufactured tens of millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine, but they cannot be distributed until regulatory agencies certify the facility.

After Emergent had to discard up to 15 million potentially contaminated doses of the vaccine last month, federal regulators conducted an inspection that found a number of problems, including the risk of other lots being contaminated.

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CDC panel postpones pause choice

CDC panel postpones pause decision

A panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided on Wednesday to postpone a decision on Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine while investigating cases of six women developing a rare but potentially life-threatening bleeding disorder, where one person is dead and one is critical condition.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met the day after the Food and Drug Administration requested states to temporarily “cease” use of J & J’s vaccine “out of caution.” The panel unanimously voted to meet in a week’s time to decide what to recommend to the CDC about J & J’s vaccine.

The postponement means the pause for J & J’s vaccine will remain in place.

The committee debated whether and how long they wanted to continue the hiatus on J & J’s vaccine while the CDC investigates the cause of the clotting. One committee member recommended a month-long hiatus from resuming vaccinations, while other members recommended a few weeks. Some members asked if they could hold the vote on hold until they had more time to process the data.

One of the options the panel considered was whether it should recommend restricting the use of the vaccine based on age or other risk factors.

Dr. Grace Lee, a member of the committee, said she feared a vote to suspend the use of the vaccine indefinitely would send the wrong message to the public. She and others added it might appear that something is fundamentally wrong with the vaccine.

“This is not the decision that I think makes the most sense,” she said.

Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association advocated taking a break. She said there are enough supplies of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to keep the rapid vaccinations going in the US

“I know there are a lot of patients who couldn’t be vaccinated and need to be vaccinated, but we want to make sure these vaccines are safe,” she said.

Dr. Nirav Shah, the director of the CDC in Maine, said the committee’s vote to postpone a decision on how to use the vaccine was “a decision”.

“Any extension of the hiatus will invariably result in the most vulnerable people in the US, who were prime candidates for the J&J vaccine, remaining at risk. The most at risk will remain at risk.”

The CDC and FDA advised states to postpone dates for J&J vaccines after six women developed cerebral sinus thrombosis (CVST) within about two weeks of receiving the shot, U.S. health officials told reporters Tuesday. CVST is a rare form of stroke that occurs when a blood clot forms in the venous sinuses of the brain. It can eventually leak blood into the brain tissue and cause bleeding.

“CVST is rare but clinically severe and can lead to significant morbidity and mortality,” said Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC official, told the committee. He said CVST cases in the J&J vaccine group appeared to be three times higher than in women aged 20 to 50 with similar backgrounds.

Within hours of the FDA’s warning early Tuesday, more than a dozen states, as well as a few national pharmacies, suspended vaccinations with J & J’s vaccine, with some replacing scheduled appointments with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

U.S. health officials had said the break in using the vaccine could only be a few days, depending on what they learned when investigating the cases. The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday the hiatus in vaccine use would give US health officials the time they need to thoroughly investigate the cases and “find some common ground among the women involved”.

A 25-year-old male developed CVST along with bleeding during the clinical study. He was hospitalized but recovered. All six cases that appeared after the clinical trial were found in white women, Shimabukuro said, noting that the median time to symptoms was eight days. Three were described as obese, one had hyperthyroidism, one had asthma, and one had high blood pressure, he said.

Five of the six patients developed headaches initially and one had back pain and bruising before developing more serious other symptoms, he said. One of the women died. Three of the patients are staying in the hospital while two have been discharged, he said.

“These are significant blood clots that are causing these problems,” he said.

Dr. Aaran Maree, chief physician of the vaccines division at J&J, Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos., Told the committee that none of the women were on birth control, which has been suggested as a possible association with blood clotting. They all also tested negative for Covid-19.

One of the two patients who recovered was a 26-year-old woman who was described as “overweight but active”, who was not on medication, and had no history of bleeding disorders.

She was hospitalized and discharged with a severe headache a week after receiving the J&J vaccine, but returned to the hospital a week later with abdominal pain and a fast heart rate, he said. Tests showed that she developed thrombocytopenia or low platelet levels and CVST.

A 48-year-old woman with an “unremarkable medical history” was admitted to the hospital after three days with malaise and abdominal pain. She developed severe thrombocytopenia and CVST which, despite treatment with the blood-thinning heparin, progressed to a hemorrhagic stroke. She received the J&J vaccine two weeks before symptoms began and is still critically ill, according to the latest report.

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C.D.C. Panel Retains Pause on Use of J&J Vaccine, Weighing Dangers

C.D.C. Panel Keeps Pause on Use of J&J Vaccine, Weighing Risks

“At the moment we believe these events are extremely rare, but we are also not sure we have heard of all possible cases as this syndrome may not be easily identified as being associated with the vaccine,” said Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the CDC director said at a White House press conference about the pandemic on Wednesday.

During the panel discussion, experts noted that the “risk window” for the disease was still open among vaccine recipients and that new cases could arise as nearly 3.8 million people had received the shot in the past two weeks. In the six women, the strong coagulation developed within about two weeks after the shot.

Other experts advocated the dissemination of health information about how to diagnose and treat the condition so that it could spread awareness among doctors, emergency rooms, and those who had received the vaccine. An important point to note is that the blood-thinning heparin, a common treatment for blood clots, can be harmful to these patients and should not be used.

Officials also noted that because the blood clots were so severe, people with the disease needed treatment as soon as possible. Some patients needed invasive procedures to remove large blood clots from the blood vessels in their brain.

Several panel members reiterated that two other vaccines – from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech – are available, neither of which are associated with the clotting problem. Continuing the hiatus would not stop most people in the US from getting vaccinated.

Speaking at the press conference, Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said the hiatus would not disrupt the momentum of the country’s vaccination campaign in general.

“In the short term, we expect some impact on the daily average as Johnson & Johnson locations and dates move to Moderna and Pfizer vaccines,” he said. “We have more than enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue or even accelerate the current rate of vaccination.”

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Skilled Panel to C.D.C. to Vote on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause

Expert Panel to C.D.C. to Vote on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause

An advisory committee from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discussed the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccination break during a Wednesday afternoon meeting while investigating a possible association with a small number of rare blood clots.

The emergency meeting follows Tuesday’s announcement by the Food and Drug Administration to investigate six cases of rare and severe blood clots in women aged 18 to 48, one of whom died. All of the women had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before developing the clot, although it is unclear whether the vaccine was responsible. As of Tuesday, more than seven million people in the United States had received the shot, and another 10 million cans had been shipped to the states, according to CDC data.

Following the call from federal health officials, all 50 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico on Tuesday quickly paused or advised vendors to stop administering the vaccine. The U.S. military, government-run vaccination centers, and a variety of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart, and Publix, also paused the injections.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a panel of independent experts who advise the CDC on its vaccine policy. During the meeting, the experts will review and debate data from the rare blood clots, including a seventh case, and will later hear comments from the public before a possible vote on how to proceed. You could vote to recommend, for example, that the break continue, or to indicate that it should only apply to a specific age or gender.

Federal officials said Tuesday the hiatus could only last a few days, though it depends on what officials learned from the investigation. They said the break will give officials more time to alert doctors that patients with these rare blood clots should not be given the drug heparin, the standard treatment doctors give for typical blood clots, and that they also have time to to see if there are more cases.

The worrying coagulation disorder among vaccine recipients is different – and much less common – than the typical blood clots that occur in hundreds of thousands of people each year. In addition to having clots in the brain, the seven women also had remarkably low levels of platelets, parts of the blood that help make normal clots. The panel experts discussed the known background rates of each disease in the general population, but noted that insufficient data was available to accurately estimate how often they occur simultaneously.

“At the moment we believe these events are extremely rare, but we are also not sure we have heard of all possible cases as this syndrome may not be easily identified as being associated with the vaccine,” said Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the CDC director said at a White House press conference about the pandemic on Wednesday.

The US surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy reiterated Wednesday that the break in Johnson & Johnson’s vaccinations gives public health officials a chance to investigate the cases and discuss them with health professionals. He added that breaks are common when new vaccines and drugs are introduced.

“We are only doing the necessary care to ensure that everything is safe so that we can continue our vaccination efforts,” said Dr. Murthy on “CBS This Morning”.

The committee’s assessment will be of vital importance at a time when the nation is trying to vaccinate as many people as possible to curb the steady buildup of cases, especially when worrying variants become more prominent. Some public health experts were disappointed with the FDA’s recommendation to suspend the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, arguing that preventing these extremely rare side effects was not worth the compromise of slowing the vaccination campaign and potentially increasing public confidence in vaccines Generally undermine.

What You Need To Know About The Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Break In The United States

    • On April 13, 2021, U.S. health officials called for an immediate halt to use of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine after six recipients in the U.S. developed a rare blood clot disorder within one to three weeks of vaccination.
    • All 50 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico have temporarily suspended use of the vaccine or suspended from recommended vendors. The U.S. military, government-run vaccination centers, and a variety of private companies, including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart, and Publix, also paused the injections.
    • Fewer than one in a million Johnson & Johnson vaccinations are currently being studied. If there is indeed a risk of blood clots from the vaccine – which has yet to be determined – the risk is extremely small. The risk of contracting Covid-19 in the United States is much higher.
    • The hiatus could complicate the country’s vaccination efforts at a time when many states are facing spikes in new cases and are trying to address vaccine hesitation.
    • Johnson & Johnson has also decided to delay the launch of its vaccine in Europe amid concerns about rare blood clots, which is taking another blow to the vaccine surge in Europe. South Africa, devastated by a contagious variant of the virus found there, also stopped using the vaccine. Australia announced that it would not buy cans.

Speaking at the press conference, Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House pandemic coordinator, said the hiatus would not disrupt the momentum of the country’s vaccination campaign in general.

“In the short term, we expect some impact on the daily average as Johnson & Johnson locations and dates move to Moderna and Pfizer vaccines,” he said. “We have more than enough Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to continue or even accelerate the current rate of vaccination.”

Noah Weiland, Denise Grady and Madeleine Ngo contributed to the coverage.

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Drug Overdose Deaths Have Surged Through the Pandemic, C.D.C. Says

Drug Overdose Deaths Have Surged During the Pandemic, C.D.C. Says

On Tuesday, several dozen organizations dealing with addiction and other health issues asked Mr. Biden’s Health and Welfare Minister, Xavier Becerra, “to act urgently” to remove the rule that doctors go through a day of training before they get federal permission to prescribe Buprenorphine. Many addiction experts are also calling for the abolition of rules that were already relaxed during the pandemic so that patients do not have to come to clinics or doctor’s offices to receive addiction drugs.

Although many programs offering treatments, naloxone, and other services to drug users resumed, at least in part, as the pandemic dragged on, many others remain closed or severely constrained, especially if they were initially on a tight budget.

Sara Glick, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington, said a survey of about 30 syringe exchange programs she conducted last spring found many were temporarily closed at the start of the pandemic. After reopening, many programs would have limited the services or the number of people they could help.

“With health departments spending so much on Covid, some programs really had to cut their budgets,” she said. “That can mean seeing fewer participants or stopping their HIV and hepatitis C tests.”

At the same time, increases in HIV cases were reported in several regions of the country with high drug use, including two cities in West Virginia, Charleston and Huntington, and Boston. West Virginia lawmakers passed law last week introducing new restrictions on syringe exchange programs that proponents of the programs say would force many to complete.

Mr. Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act provides $ 1.5 billion to prevent and treat substance use disorders and $ 30 million to fund local services that benefit addicts, including syringe exchange programs. The latter is important insofar as federal funds can still largely not be spent on syringes for drug users, but the restriction does not apply to money from the stimulus package, according to the Office for Drug Control Policy. Last week, the government announced that federal funds could now be used to purchase fentanyl rapid test strips, which can be used to check whether drugs have been mixed or cut with fentanyl.

Fentanyl or its analogs have been increasingly detected in counterfeit pills illegally sold as prescription opioids or benzodiazepines – sedatives like Xanax used as anti-anxiety drugs – and meth in particular.

The northeastern states, which have been hardest hit by opioid deaths in recent years, had some of the lowest deaths in the first half of the pandemic year, with the exception of Maine. The states hardest hit included West Virginia and Kentucky, which have long led the way in overdose deaths, as well as western states like California and Arizona, and southern states like Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee.

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CDC chief says vaccinating alone will not cease Michigan Covid surge

CDC chief says vaccinating alone won't stop Michigan Covid surge

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer receives a dose of Pfizer Covid vaccine at Ford Field during an event to encourage Michigan residents to receive the vaccine on April 6, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan.

Matthew Hatcher | Getty Images

A senior health official in the Biden government said Monday Michigan should “shut things down” as it grapples with a staggering increase in coronavirus cases.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said an increase in Covid-19 vaccinations alone is not the answer – even as Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer urges the federal government to send her more vaccines.

“I think if we try to vaccinate our way out of what’s going on in Michigan, we’d be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work and actually have the effects,” Walensky said during a White House briefing the pandemic. It took several weeks for the vaccinations to kick in and the number of cases decreased, she noted.

The state’s best bet, Walensky said, “is to really close things up.”

Walensky urged Michigan to “go back to where we were last spring, last summer, and turn things off, smooth the curve, reduce contact with each other” and step up testing and contact tracking efforts. The number of cases in Michigan has risen dramatically in the past few weeks. For the past week, an average of 7,359 new cases per day have been recorded and, according to Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic cases were nearing Thanksgiving. Deaths are also increasing.

“What we really have to do in situations like this is turn things off,” said Walensky.

Whitmer, a Democrat in a politically violet state where shutdowns were particularly controversial, was reluctant to order new restrictions in response to the recent surge in cases.

Last week, she asked residents of her state to voluntarily restrict their activities and urged schools to temporarily stop personal learning. However, she stressed that “these are, to be very clear, not orders, mandates or requirements”.

No state has more daily infections per capita than Michigan, according to a CNBC analysis of the Johns Hopkins University data.

Much of the current surge comes from a highly infectious variant of Covid, B.1.1.7, the most common strain of virus in the United States today

Whitmer on Friday called on President Joe Biden’s administration to flood their state with vaccines and called on the government to “develop a vaccination program to help states like Michigan”. The government is reportedly ready to transfer some resources to the state, but not vaccines.

Without contacting Whitmer directly, Walensky pushed back calls for additional vaccines to be shipped to states with severe outbreaks.

“There are different tools that we can use for different periods of time,” Walensky said at the meeting on Monday.

“We know that if vaccines are in our arms today, we won’t see any effect from those vaccines for two to six weeks, depending on the vaccine,” she said. “So when you have an acute situation, an extraordinary number of cases like Michigan, the answer isn’t necessarily to give a vaccine. In fact, we know the vaccine will have a delayed response.”

“We also need this vaccine in other places,” said Walensky. “If we vaccinate today, we’ll have an impact in six weeks and we don’t know where the next place will be to increase.”

– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.

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U.S. sees rising Covid instances related to youth sports activities, CDC director says

U.S. sees rising Covid cases associated with youth sports, CDC director says

Youth hockey has had more positive coronavirus cases across the country than most sports.

Adam Glanzman | The Washington Post | Getty Images

There are increasing reports of Covid-19 cases related to youth sports in the US, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

The connection between youth sports and increased coronavirus cases is that the highly infectious B.1.1.7 variant identified for the first time in Great Britain has become the most common Covid strain in the USA

There are growing numbers of Covid cases related to variant B.1.1.7 in Michigan and Minnesota, Walensky said. “Both states have concerns about transmission in youth sports, both club and sport.” connected in schools. “

“What is happening in Michigan and Minnesota is similar to what we are seeing across the country: increasing reports of cases related to youth sports,” Walensky said at a White House press conference on Covid-19 Friday.

There were 291 outbreaks in Michigan between January and March that came from youth sports teams that involved at least 1,091 people, health officials said at a separate news conference on Friday. Governor Gretchen Whitmer urged schools and clubs to pause personal exercises and games for two weeks to control the outbreak. She also urged schools to stop personal learning during this time.

In Minnesota, the B.1.1.7 strain quickly spread throughout Carver County, with at least 68 cases of coronavirus linked to participants in school and club sports activities such as hockey, wrestling, basketball, alpine skiing, and other sports, the state reported Health Department March.

A Covid outbreak at a wrestling tournament in Florida in December resulted in at least 38 coronavirus cases, according to a CDC study.

Walensky emphasized that Covid-19 cases related to youth sports are not necessarily related to an increased risk of transmission in classrooms.

“As cases increase in the community, we expect the cases seen in schools to increase too. This is not necessarily indicative of school-based transmission,” Walensky said.

“We haven’t seen any evidence of significant transmission of Covid-19 within schools once schools have fully implemented the CDC’s harm control guidelines,” she said.

The CDC director also highlighted an increase in Covid-19 cases and emergency rooms in younger adults, most of whom have not yet been vaccinated.

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Florida sues CDC to permit cruises to renew U.S. sailings

Florida sues CDC to allow cruises to resume U.S. sailings

Maiden voyage of the Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, which was delivered from STX shipyards in Saint-Nazaire to the American shipowner Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd (RCCL).

Andia | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the state would file a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding that cruise ships resume sailing immediately.

“Florida is fighting back today on behalf of the tens of thousands of Floridians whose livelihood depends on the viability of an open cruise industry,” he announced at a press conference. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to moot a large industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data.”

DeSantis described the CDC’s decision to delay the opening of the US cruise industry as “irrational” and said he believed the lawsuit had a “good chance of success”.

The CDC was not immediately available for comment.

In the first six months of the pandemic, Florida lost $ 3.2 billion to the cruise industry shutdown, including nearly 50,000 jobs that paid $ 2.3 billion in wages, according to a September 2020 report by the Federal Maritime Commission. Since the CDC shut down the U.S. cruise industry last year, the state’s seaports have seen operating revenues decline by nearly $ 300 million. That number is expected to hit nearly $ 400 million in July, the Florida Department of Transportation told CNBC.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to the media about the cruise industry during a press conference in Port Miami on April 8, 2021 in Miami, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

The governor signed an executive order on Friday banning so-called vaccination passports, which should also apply to the cruise industry. Corporations and government agencies cannot require customers or clients to provide evidence of vaccination.

In October, the CDC announced in its framework for the Conditional Sailing Ordinance that Covid spreads more easily on cruise ships than in other environments. The agency cited, among other things, a study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine which found that the virus spread at a rate four times higher on the Diamond Princess cruise, spreading an average of one person to 15 people than at the original epicenter in Wuhan, China, where it was divided from one person to four on average.

Cruise ships extend the interruptions to the landing gear

Royal Caribbean announced Thursday that it would be extending the suspension of some of its voyages from US ports.

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises’ voyages will be suspended until June 30, according to a press release. However, voyages from new home ports in other regions of the world are still going according to plan.

The Silversea extensions exclude Silver Moon, Silver Origin, and Silver Explorer.

“Safety is a top priority and we know cruises can be safe as we have seen in Europe and Asia,” said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, in a press release. He remains optimistic about the second half of the year, citing President Joe Biden’s promise that society should return to normal by July 4th.

Disney Cruise Line also announced on Monday that US travel will continue to be suspended until June. This affects the Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wonder sails.

The industry wants to be treated like an airline

Royal Caribbean has carried over 100,000 guests on its ships outside of the United States since the pandemic and seen only 10 cases of Covid, Fain said on CBS This Morning on Thursday. He said he “would like to be treated very similarly to airlines and other modes of transport.”

Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald expressed a similar sentiment in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. He said cruise lines would “like to be treated in the same way as other sectors such as travel, tourism and entertainment”.

While airlines are able to fly around the world during the pandemic, the cruise industry, which had over 100,000 American jobs before Covid, has struggled for about a year with no travel from its US ports.

“The irony is that an American today can fly to any number of destinations to take a cruise but cannot board a ship in the United States,” the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement on Monday, calling for it urged the CDC to suspend its terms and conditions, which described a gradual return to US cruise operations with no specified date.

Last week, the CDC released technical instructions for cruise lines, including increasing the frequency of Covid case reports from weekly to daily, creating a schedule for all staff to be vaccinated, and performing routine tests. However, this update did not specify a date when cruise ships would be back in service in the United States

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Arnold Donald is CEO of Carnival Corporation.

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Florida sues CDC to permit cruises to renew U.S. sailings

Florida sues CDC to allow cruises to resume U.S. sailings

Maiden voyage of the Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, which was delivered from STX shipyards in Saint-Nazaire to the American shipowner Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd (RCCL).

Andia | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the state would file a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding that cruise lines resume sailing immediately.

“Florida is fighting back today on behalf of the tens of thousands of Floridians whose livelihood depends on the viability of an open cruise industry,” he announced in a press conference on Thursday. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to moot a large industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data.”

DeSantis described the CDC’s decision to delay the opening of the US cruise industry as “irrational” and said he believed the lawsuit had a “good chance of success”.

The CDC was not immediately available for comment.

The governor signed an executive order on Friday banning so-called vaccination passports, which should also apply to the cruise industry. Private and public companies do not need to provide proof of vaccination.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to the media about the cruise industry during a press conference in Port Miami on April 8, 2021 in Miami, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Cruise ships extend the interruptions to the landing gear

Royal Caribbean announced Thursday that it would be extending the suspension of some of its voyages from US ports.

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises’ voyages will be suspended until June 30, according to a press release. However, voyages from new ports in other regions of the world are still going according to plan.

The Silversea Cruises that have extended their suspension exclude Silver Moon, Silver Origin and Silver Explorer.

“Safety is a top priority and we know cruises can be safe as we have seen in Europe and Asia,” said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, in a press release. He remains optimistic about the second half of the year, citing President Joe Biden’s promise that society should return to normal by July 4th.

Disney Cruise Line also announced on Monday that US travel will continue to be suspended until June. This affects the Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wonder sails.

The industry demands fair treatment

Royal Caribbean has carried over 100,000 guests on its ships outside of the United States since the pandemic and seen only 10 cases of Covid, Fain said on CBS This Morning on Thursday. He said he “would like to be treated very similarly to airlines and other modes of transport.”

Arnold Donald, the CEO of Carnival Cruise Line, expressed a similar sentiment in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. He said cruise lines would “like to be treated in the same way as other sectors such as travel, tourism and entertainment”.

While airlines are able to fly around the world during the pandemic, the cruise industry, which had over 100,000 American jobs before Covid, has struggled for about a year with no travel from its US ports.

“The irony is that today an American can fly to any number of destinations to take a cruise, but cannot board a ship in the US,” the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement on Monday, calling on the CDC to repeal its framework for Conditional Sailing Order, which describes a “framed approach” for US cruise lines to return with no strict date in sight.

Last week, the CDC released technical instructions for cruise lines, including increasing the frequency of Covid case reports from weekly to daily, creating a schedule for all staff to be vaccinated, and performing routine tests. However, this update did not specify a date when cruise ships would be back in service in the United States

“Nobody can guarantee that anyone anywhere in America or anywhere else is safe from Covid,” Fain told CBS. “Actually the irony is, when you get on a ship, you will reduce your risk of contracting the virus.”