Tag: Outlines

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Health

Citing New Knowledge, Pfizer Outlines Case for Booster Photographs

Citing New Data, Pfizer Outlines Case for Booster Shots

Pfizer reported on Wednesday that the power of its two-dose Covid vaccine wanes slightly over time, but nonetheless offers lasting and robust protection against serious disease. The company suggested that a third shot could improve immunity, but whether boosters will be widely needed is far from settled, the subject of heated debate among scientists.

So far, federal health officials have said boosters for the general population are unnecessary. And experts questioned whether vaccinated people should get more doses when so many people have yet to be immunized at all.

“There’s not enough evidence right now to support that that is somehow the best use of resources,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at Emory University in Atlanta.

Still, the findings raise questions about how well the Pfizer vaccine will prevent infection in the months to come. And with coronavirus cases surging again in many states, the data may influence the Biden administration’s deliberations about delivering boosters for older people.

If third shots are cleared for the general population, the boosters would likely represent a multi-billion-dollar business for Pfizer.

In a study posted online but not yet peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, Pfizer and BioNTech scientists reported that the vaccine had a sky-high efficacy rate of about 96 percent against symptomatic Covid-19 for the first two months following the second dose. But the figure declined by about 6 percent every two months after that, falling to 83.7 percent after about four to six months.

Against severe disease, however, the vaccine’s efficacy held steady at about 97 percent.

“This drop is very slight — I wouldn’t say it’s waning,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. She did not see in the new study any evidence that boosters should go into use for the general population. “These data don’t support a need for that right now,” she said.

The findings fit with what scientists have learned about how the immune system fends off viruses. Antibodies are the only defense to prevent an infection, but their levels typically drop in the months after vaccination or recovery from the disease. If the coronavirus takes hold, immune cells can swoop in to destroy infected cells and make new antibodies.

That enduring defense produced by the vaccine may explain how the virus can sometimes breed in the nose — producing a cold or sore throat — but fail to reach the lung where it can cause serious disease.

“Everything that’s engaged by the vaccine is able to fight off that spread that ultimately leads to severe disease,” Dr. Iwasaki said. “That’s probably not declining at all.”

The study period ended before the rise of the Delta variant, the highly contagious version of the virus that now dominates in the United States and makes vaccines somewhat less effective against infection.

The findings come from 42,000 volunteers in six countries who participated in a clinical trial that Pfizer and BioNTech began last July. Half of the volunteers got the vaccine, while the other half received a placebo. Both groups received two shots spaced three weeks apart.

The researchers compared the number of people in each group who developed symptoms of Covid-19, which was then confirmed by a P.C.R. virus test. When the companies announced their first batch of results, the vaccine showed an efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19 of 95 percent.

Updated 

July 28, 2021, 8:48 p.m. ET

In other words, the risk of getting sick was reduced by 95 percent in the group that got the vaccine, compared with the group that got the placebo. That result — the first for any Covid-19 vaccine — brought an exhilarating dose of hope to the world in December when it was riding what had been the biggest wave of the pandemic.

Since then, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has made up the majority of shots that Americans have received, with more than 191 million doses given so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

In the new study, the researchers followed the volunteers for six months after vaccination, up to March 13. Over the entire period, the researchers estimated, the vaccine’s efficacy was 91.5 percent against symptomatic Covid-19. (The study did not measure the rate of asymptomatic virus infections.)

But within that period, efficacy did gradually drop. Between one week and two months after the second dose, the figure was 96.2 percent. In the period from two to four months following vaccination, efficacy fell to 90.1 percent. From four months after vaccination to the March cutoff, the figure was 83.7 percent.

Understand the State of Vaccine Mandates in the U.S.

Those figures still describe a remarkably effective vaccine, however, and may not convince critics that booster shots are widely needed.

The study comes on the heels of data from Israel suggesting that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine’s protection may be waning there. But experts have pushed back against a rush to approving a booster there. The data have too many sources of uncertainty, they say, to make a precise estimate of how much effectiveness has waned. For example, the Delta-driven outbreak hit parts of the country with high vaccination rates first and has been hitting other regions later.

“Such an analysis is still highly uncertain,” said Doron Gazit, a physicist at Hebrew University who analyzes Covid-19 trends for the Israeli government.

Earlier on Wednesday, Pfizer reported that a third dose of its vaccine significantly increases blood levels of antibodies against several versions of the virus, including the Delta variant.

Results were similar for antibodies produced against the original virus and the Beta variant, which was first identified in South Africa. Pfizer and BioNTech expect to publish more definitive research in the coming weeks.

The announcement was a preliminary snapshot of data contained in an earnings statement. And although antibody levels are an important measure of immunity, they are not the only metric. The body has other defenses that turn back infection.

Pfizer also said in its statement that vaccines for children ages 5 through 11 years could be available as early as the end of September. The vaccine is already authorized in the United States for everyone ages 12 and up.

Pfizer’s vaccine brought in $7.8 billion in revenue in the last three months, the company said, and is on track to generate more than $33.5 billion this year.

The vaccine is poised to generate more sales in a single year than any previous medical product, and by a wide margin. Pfizer did not disclose its exact profits on the vaccine, but reiterated its previous estimate that its profit margins on the vaccine would be in the high 20 percent range. Even if the drugmaker’s profits fall on the lower end of that range, that would work out to about $3 billion in profit so far this year.

Rebecca Robbins contributed reporting.

Categories
Politics

White Home Outlines Plan to Ship 25 Million Vaccine Photographs Overseas

White House Outlines Plan to Send 25 Million Vaccine Shots Abroad

Mr. Biden came into office vowing to restore America’s position as a leader in global health, and he has been under increasing pressure from activists, as well as some business leaders, to do more to address the global vaccine shortage. Earlier this year, he said he was reluctant to give away vaccine doses until the United States had enough for its own population, though he did promise in March to send a total of four million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine to Mexico and Canada.

Those doses, it turned out, were made at a Baltimore facility owned by Emergent BioSolutions, where production has since been put on hold after an incident of contamination.

Mr. Biden’s pledge to donate 80 million doses involves vaccines made by four manufacturers. Besides AstraZeneca, they are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, the last three of which have received U.S. emergency authorization for their vaccines. The president announced last month that his administration would send 20 million doses of the authorized vaccines overseas in June — the first time he had pledged to give away doses that could be used in the United States. Officials did not say on Thursday why that number had been increased by five million.

Last month, Mr. Biden announced he would send one million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to South Korea; a plane carrying those doses was expected to take off Thursday evening, Mr. Zients said.

Mr. Biden has also pledged to donate up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine, but those doses, also made at the Emergent plant, are not authorized for domestic use and cannot be released until regulators deem them safe. In March, his administration committed to providing financial support to help Biological E, a major vaccine manufacturer in India, produce at least one billion doses of coronavirus vaccines by the end of 2022.

The president has described the vaccine donations as part of an “entirely new effort” to increase vaccine supplies and vastly expand manufacturing capacity, most of it in the United States. To broaden supply further, Mr. Biden recently announced he would support waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. He also put Mr. Zients in charge of developing a global vaccine strategy.

But activists say simply donating excess doses and supporting the waiver is not enough. They argue that Mr. Biden must create the conditions for pharmaceutical companies to transfer their intellectual property to vaccine makers overseas, so that other countries can stand up their own vaccine manufacturing operations.

Mr. Zients also said the United States was lifting the Defense Production Act’s “priority rating” for three vaccine makers — AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sanofi. None of those vaccines are authorized for U.S. use, and the shift means that U.S.-based companies that supply the vaccine makers will be able to “make their own decisions on which orders to fulfill first,” Mr. Zients said.

Abdi Latif Dahir contributed reporting.

Categories
Health

WHO outlines Wuhan findings on origins of Covid pandemic

WHO outlines Wuhan findings on origins of Covid pandemic

Peter Ben Embarek and Marion Koopmans (R) come to a press conference on February 9, 2021 to conclude a visit by an international team of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) to the city of Wuhan in the Chinese province of Hefei.

HECTOR RETAMAL | AFP | Getty Images

An international team of scientists led by the World Health Organization said Tuesday that the search for the introduction of the coronavirus was still in progress. Further research is needed to investigate how and whether the disease circulated in animals prior to human infection.

Scientists have been working in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the disease was first identified, for four weeks, looking for clues to the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The research team has visited hospitals, laboratories, and markets including the Huanan Seafood Market, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the laboratory of the Wuhan Center for Disease Control.

During the secret visit, researchers were also supposed to speak to early responders and some of the early patients. The team completed two weeks of quarantine before starting visiting local locations.

Dr. Peter Ben Embarek, WHO food safety and animal diseases specialist and chairman of the investigation team, told a press conference that the “most likely” path for Covid is to transition from an intermediate species in humans. That hypothesis will “require more study and more specific (and) targeted research,” he said.

The first results of the investigation found no evidence of major Covid outbreaks in Wuhan or anywhere else before December 2019. However, researchers found evidence of wider Covid spread outside the Huanan seafood market in the same month, Ben Embarek said.

He added that it was not yet possible to determine the intermediate animal host for the coronavirus and described the results as “in the works” after nearly a month of meetings and site visits.

“To understand what happened in the early days of December 2019, we dramatically changed the image we had before? I don’t think so,” said Ben Embarek.

“Have we improved our understanding? Have we added details to this story? Absolutely,” he said.

WHO has tried to meet expectations for a definitive conclusion on the origins of the Covid pandemic. To put the mission in a broader context, it took more than a decade to find the origins of SARS, while the origins of Ebola – first identified in the 1970s – are not yet known.

It is hoped that information on the earliest known cases of the coronavirus, first discovered in Wuhan in late 2019, can help pinpoint the start of the outbreak and prevent similar pandemics in the future.

After concerns about access and delays in issuing visas, the team led by the World Health Organization arrived in Wuhan on January 14 to work with Chinese scientists to investigate the origin of the coronavirus.

Laboratory leak “extremely unlikely”

A theory that the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been discredited by the research team. The hypothesis had been upheld by former President Donald Trump’s administration without any burden of proof and was strictly denied by Chinese officials.

“The hypothesis of a laboratory incident is extremely unlikely to explain the introduction of the virus into the human population,” said Ben Embarek. “Hence, it is not in the hypotheses that we will propose for future studies.”

Liang Wannian, head of the Covid expert panel at the Chinese National Health Commission, said on Tuesday, alongside Ben Embarek of the WHO from the Hilton Optics Valley Hotel in Wuhan, he agreed with this assessment.

The team had concluded that a laboratory leak should be considered extremely unlikely “on the basis of serious discussion and very careful research,” he added.

Mink are seen on a farm in Gjol, Northern Denmark on October 9, 2020.

HENNING BAGGER | Ritzau Scanpix | AFP via Getty Images

Liang said ongoing research into the origins of the virus needs to focus on how the virus circulated in animals before humans were infected.

Animal hosts have yet to be identified, but bats and pangolins are both potential candidates for transmission, Liang said, but samples from these species have not been found “sufficiently similar” to the Covid virus.

The high susceptibility of minks and cats to the Covid virus suggests that there may be other animals that act as reservoirs, Liang continued, but research is currently insufficient.

China’s national health commission spokesman said there could have been an unreported spread of the coronavirus before it was first discovered in Wuhan. However, Liang said there was no evidence of significant spread of Covid in Wuhan prior to the outbreak in late 2019.

International concern

The WHO previously cited genetic sequencing that showed the coronavirus had started in bats and likely jumped to another animal before infecting the human.

Many of the people who contracted the new virus in Wuhan, a city of around 11 million people, are said to have had connections to the Huanan fish market.

Scientists initially suspected the virus came from wildlife sold in the fish market, which prompted China to swiftly restrict public access to the market early last year.

China’s CDC has since said samples from the fish market suggest that the virus has spread from where the outbreak first occurred.

Additionally, China’s Liang said Tuesday that the Huanan Fish Market was one of the places where the coronavirus first appeared. However, he added that with current evidence it is impossible to determine how the virus was first introduced to the fish market.

Security guards stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus visit the institute in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, on February 3, 2021.

HECTOR RETAMAL | AFP | Getty Images

The origins of the coronavirus remain important as the virus is constantly evolving, as demonstrated by highly infectious mutant strains in the UK and South Africa.

To date, more than 106 million people worldwide have contracted the coronavirus and it has caused at least 2.32 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US has by far reported the highest number of confirmed Covid cases and deaths, with more than 27 million reported infections and 465,072 deaths.

China has released little information about its research into the origins of the coronavirus, and there has been widespread international concern about what researchers in Wuhan are allowed to see and do as part of their research.

– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.

Categories
Business

Biden Outlines $1.9 Trillion Spending Package deal to Fight Virus and Downturn

Biden Set to Propose $1.9 Trillion Spending Package to Combat Virus and Downturn

WASHINGTON – Der gewählte Präsident Joseph R. Biden Jr. schlug am Donnerstag ein Rettungspaket in Höhe von 1,9 Billionen US-Dollar vor, um den wirtschaftlichen Abschwung und die Covid-19-Krise zu bekämpfen Reaktion der Regierung auf eine Pandemie, als sich Herr Biden auf sein Amt vorbereitet.

Das Paket umfasst mehr als 400 Milliarden US-Dollar zur direkten Bekämpfung der Pandemie, einschließlich Geldern zur Beschleunigung des Impfstoffeinsatzes und zur sicheren Wiedereröffnung der meisten Schulen innerhalb von 100 Tagen. Weitere 350 Milliarden US-Dollar würden den staatlichen und lokalen Regierungen helfen, Haushaltsengpässe zu überbrücken, und der Plan würde auch 1.400 US-Dollar Direktzahlungen an Einzelpersonen, großzügigere Arbeitslosenunterstützung, staatlich vorgeschriebenen bezahlten Urlaub für Arbeitnehmer und große Subventionen für Kinderbetreuungskosten umfassen.

“Während dieser Pandemie haben Millionen von Amerikanern ohne eigenes Verschulden die Würde und den Respekt verloren, die mit einem Job und einem Gehaltsscheck verbunden sind”, sagte Biden in einer Rede vor der Nation. “Es gibt echte Schmerzen, die die Realwirtschaft überwältigen.”

Er erkannte den hohen Preis an, sagte aber, die Nation könne es sich nicht leisten, weniger zu tun. “Die Gesundheit unserer Nation steht auf dem Spiel”, sagte Biden und fügte hinzu, dass sie “nicht billig ist, aber wenn wir dies nicht tun, kostet uns das viel Geld.”

Herr Biden ergriff in einer Zeit der nationalen Krise und einen Tag nach der Amtsenthebung von Präsident Trump im Repräsentantenhaus rasch Maßnahmen, um die Tagesordnung zu gestalten. Während es den politischen Wandel in Washington widerspiegelt, während die Demokraten die Kontrolle über den Kongress übernehmen, wird die Unterstützung für das Programm von Herrn Biden sofort vor Herausforderungen stehen, beginnend mit der Möglichkeit, dass ein Senatsprozess gegen Herrn Trump seine Verabschiedung verzögern könnte.

Es ist auch unklar, wie leicht Herr Biden genügend Stimmen für einen Plan mit solchen Ambitionen und Kosten erhalten kann, insbesondere im Senat. Demokratische Siege bei zwei Sonderwahlen in Georgia in der vergangenen Woche gaben Herrn Bidens Parteikontrolle über den Senat – allerdings nur mit einem Vorsprung von 50:50 nach der entscheidenden Abstimmung der gewählten Vizepräsidentin Kamala Harris. Herr Biden muss in einer Zeit knapper Überparteilichkeit alle defekten gemäßigten Demokraten mit republikanischen Stimmen entschädigen.

Herr Biden sagte, dass der Gesetzgeber zum Wohl des Landes zusammenkommen müsse und dass „Einheit kein Traum im Himmel ist – es ist ein praktischer Schritt, um die Dinge zu erreichen, die wir als Land erledigen müssen zusammen.”

Seine Rede am Donnerstag fand in einem unglaublich herausfordernden Moment statt, als die Zahl der Viren weiter zunahm, Millionen von Arbeitern aus dem Verkehr gezogen wurden und die amerikanischen Partisanendivisionen drohten, sie auseinander zu reißen. Eine Woche, nachdem ein Mob das Kapitol gestürmt hatte, um die Zertifizierung von Mr. Bidens Sieg durch den Kongress zu stören, ähnelt Washington einem bewaffneten Lager, in dem Stahlbarrikaden in der ganzen Stadt errichtet und bewaffnete Strafverfolgungsbehörden die Straßen überwachen.

Es wird erwartet, dass mehr als 20.000 Nationalgardisten Washington überfluten, bevor Mr. Biden am 20. Januar vereidigt wird.

Die wirtschaftliche Erholung von der Pandemie-Rezession hat sich angesichts des winterlichen Anstiegs des Virus und neuer Wellen von Beschränkungen der Wirtschaftstätigkeit in Städten und Bundesstaaten ebenfalls umgekehrt.

Das Arbeitsministerium berichtete am Donnerstag, dass 1,15 Millionen Amerikaner in der ersten vollen Woche des neuen Jahres neue Arbeitslosenanträge gestellt haben, ein Anstieg von 25 Prozent gegenüber der Vorwoche. Weitere 284.000 Anträge wurden für Pandemic Unemployment Assistance eingereicht, ein Notfallprogramm des Bundes für Arbeitnehmer wie Freiberufler, die normalerweise keinen Anspruch auf Arbeitslosenunterstützung haben. Die Nation hat im Dezember 140.000 Arbeitsplätze abgebaut, berichtete die Abteilung letzte Woche.

Die Adjutanten von Herrn Biden sagen, die Dringlichkeit des Augenblicks habe den gewählten Präsidenten dazu veranlasst, einen wesentlich größeren wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung vorzuschlagen, als es die Obama-Regierung bei ihrem Amtsantritt in einer Rezession im Jahr 2009 durchgesetzt hatte. Der Biden-Vorschlag ist mehr als 50 Prozent größer als der Obama – Verbessern Sie die Impulse nach Anpassung an die Inflation und kommen Sie zu mehreren Billionen Dollar wirtschaftlicher Hilfe hinzu, die der Kongress letztes Jahr unter Herrn Trump genehmigt hat.

Das Paket spiegelte den Umfang der Herausforderung wider, vor der die Wirtschaft und das Gesundheitssystem des Landes stehen. In einem Briefing am Donnerstag stellte ein Biden-Beamter fest, dass die bestehende nationale Planung und Infrastruktur für Massenimpfungen und -tests weit weniger entwickelt war, als das ankommende Team des Weißen Hauses erwartet hatte.

Herr Biden erläuterte seinen sogenannten amerikanischen Rettungsplan in einer Abendrede in Delaware, wobei er seine Präsidentschaft effektiv startete und ihn in den hellsten Scheinwerfer seit seiner Nominierungsrede im vergangenen Sommer auf dem Democratic National Convention stellte.

Der gewählte Präsident schlug einen dringenden, aber optimistischen Ton an und sagte, die Vereinigten Staaten könnten ihre gegenwärtigen Herausforderungen bewältigen.

“Aus all der Gefahr dieses Augenblicks möchte ich, dass Sie wissen, dass ich das Versprechen sehe”, sagte Mr. Biden. “Ich bin so optimistisch wie nie zuvor.”

Aktualisiert

14. Januar 2021, 21:12 Uhr ET

Der Plan wurde von fortschrittlichen Gruppen sowie von der führenden Wirtschaftslobby des Landes, der US-Handelskammer, gelobt, die in Bezug auf Ausgaben und Vorschriften häufig im Widerspruch zur Obama-Regierung stand. “Wir begrüßen den Fokus des gewählten Präsidenten auf Impfungen sowie auf Wirtschaftssektoren und Familien, die weiterhin leiden, während die Pandemie weiter tobt”, sagte die Kammer in einer Erklärung.

Die Republikaner schwiegen weitgehend zu dem Plan, der die Art der staatlichen und lokalen Hilfe umfasst, die im letzten Jahr zu einem Knackpunkt in den Konjunkturverhandlungen wurde. Der Kongress konnte sich im Dezember erst auf ein 900-Milliarden-Dollar-Paket einigen, nachdem eine solche Hilfe ausgeschlossen worden war. Herr Biden erläuterte jedoch seine Gründe für die Aufnahme einer solchen Finanzierung und sagte, es sei wichtig, Kürzungen und Entlassungen zu vermeiden, die den Kampf gegen das Virus zurückhalten und die Wirtschaft weiter schädigen würden.

“Millionen von Menschen, die ihr Leben in Gefahr bringen, sind genau die Menschen, die jetzt Gefahr laufen, ihren Arbeitsplatz zu verlieren: Polizisten, Feuerwehrleute, alle Ersthelfer, Krankenschwestern, Pädagogen”, sagte Biden.

Der “Rettungs” -Vorschlag von Herrn Biden, der vollständig durch eine verstärkte Kreditaufnahme des Bundes finanziert würde, beruht auf der Idee, dass das Virus und die Genesung miteinander verflochten sind und dass sich die Wirtschaft ohne den Einsatz von Massenimpfstoffen nicht erholen kann.

“Was die Wirtschaft braucht, ist eine erfolgreiche Einführung der Impfstoffe und eine Verringerung der Risiken sozialer und wirtschaftlicher Aktivitäten”, sagte Aaron Sojourner, Arbeitsökonom an der Carlson School of Management der University of Minnesota, der im Wirtschaftsrat des Weißen Hauses tätig war Berater unter den Regierungen Obama und Trump. „Das wird einen großen Beitrag zur Förderung der Genesung leisten. Es wird nicht den ganzen Weg gehen, aber es wird einen langen Weg gehen. “

Herr Biden, der versprochen hat, bis zu seinem 100. Tag im Amt „100 Millionen Covid-Impfschüsse in die Arme des amerikanischen Volkes zu bekommen“, sagte letzte Woche, er beabsichtige, fast alle verfügbaren Coronavirus-Impfstoffflaschen nach seinem Amtsantritt freizugeben als einige zurückzuhalten, wie es die Trump-Administration getan hatte.

Das am Donnerstag angekündigte „nationale Impfprogramm“ in Höhe von 20 Milliarden US-Dollar sieht kommunale Impfzentren im ganzen Land vor. In jüngsten Reden sagte er, er würde gerne Massenimpfstellen in Gymnasien, Sportstadien und dergleichen sehen, die möglicherweise von der Nationalgarde oder Mitarbeitern der Federal Emergency Management Agency besetzt sind.

Herr Biden forderte auch ein „Programm für Arbeitsplätze im Bereich der öffentlichen Gesundheit“, das seine Ziele, die Wirtschaft und die Reaktion von Covid-19 zu stärken und gleichzeitig die fragile Infrastruktur des Landes im Bereich der öffentlichen Gesundheit wieder aufzubauen, ansprechen soll. Der Vorschlag würde 100.000 Beschäftigte im öffentlichen Gesundheitswesen finanzieren, um Impfstoffe zu erreichen und Kontakte aufzuspüren.

Gleichzeitig ist Herr Biden daran interessiert, die Rassenunterschiede anzugehen, die durch die Coronavirus-Pandemie, die das Leben und die Arbeit von Farbigen überproportional gefordert hat, so schmerzhaft aufgedeckt wurden. Er versprach, die Mittel für kommunale Gesundheitszentren zu erhöhen und die Bemühungen zur Eindämmung der Pandemie in Gefängnissen und Gefängnissen zu finanzieren, in denen Schwarze und Latinos überrepräsentiert sind.

In seinen Ausführungen beklagte Herr Biden eine „wachsende Hungerkrise“, insbesondere unter Minderheitengemeinschaften, und sagte: „Mehr als jeder fünfte schwarze und lateinamerikanische Haushalt in Amerika berichtet, dass er nicht genug zu essen hat. Es ist falsch. Es ist tragisch. Das ist inakzeptabel. “

Er schlug eine breite Palette von Bemühungen vor, um denjenigen zu helfen, die am meisten unter dem wirtschaftlichen Rückzug gelitten haben. Sein Plan würde 106 Millionen Amerikanern, unabhängig von der Größe ihres Arbeitgebers, bezahlten Noturlaub gewähren, ein Vorschlag, an dem viele Kongressrepublikaner arbeiteten, um in einem im vergangenen Frühjahr verabschiedeten Konjunkturprogramm zurückzuschneiden. Und es würde vielen Familien Steuergutschriften gewähren, um jährliche Kinderbetreuungskosten von bis zu 8.000 USD auszugleichen.

Es bietet Mietbeihilfen in Milliardenhöhe und würde Millionen der am stärksten betroffenen Kleinunternehmen Zuschüsse gewähren. Außerdem werden vorübergehend zwei Steuergutschriften erhöht, um einkommensschwachen Arbeitnehmern und Familien effektiv mehr Geld von der Regierung zukommen zu lassen. Und es würde das erweiterte Arbeitslosengeld bis Ende September verlängern, mit einem zusätzlichen wöchentlichen Zuschlag von 400 USD.

Herr Biden forderte den Kongress außerdem auf, den föderalen Mindestlohn auf 15 USD pro Stunde anzuheben, eine Priorität, die er während seiner Kampagne darlegte.

.

Herr Biden plant, im Februar einen weiteren, größeren Satz von Ausgabenvorschlägen vorzulegen, und er legte den Grundstein, um diese Bemühungen durch Steuererhöhungen für Unternehmen und Reiche zu finanzieren. Er zog einen scharfen Kontrast zwischen dem Leid der Niedriglohnarbeiter und denen, die ohne Gehaltsscheck mit den reichsten Amerikanern zu kämpfen hatten, und sagte, es gebe eine „wachsende Kluft zwischen den wenigen Menschen an der Spitze, denen es in dieser Wirtschaft recht gut geht – und den Rest von Amerika. “

“Seit Beginn dieser Pandemie ist das Vermögen der obersten 1 Prozent seit Ende letzten Jahres um rund 1,5 Billionen US-Dollar gewachsen – das Vierfache des Betrags für die gesamten unteren 50 Prozent”, sagte er.

Das zweite Paket wird sich voraussichtlich auf die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen und die Infrastruktur konzentrieren, einschließlich Ausgaben in Höhe von Hunderten von Milliarden US-Dollar für Projekte im Bereich saubere Energie wie Ladestationen für Elektrofahrzeuge sowie Ausgaben für Gesundheitsversorgung und Bildung.

Herr Biden hat gesagt, er werde daran arbeiten, die Unterstützung der Republikaner für seine Pläne aufzubauen, und er werde 10 Stimmen der Republikaner im Senat benötigen, um einen Filibuster zu überwinden. Aber Top-Demokraten im Repräsentantenhaus und im Senat bereiten sich darauf vor, schnell zu einem parlamentarischen Prozess überzugehen, der als Haushaltsausgleich bekannt ist, falls sie nur eine einfache Mehrheit im Senat erhalten können. Die Republikaner nutzten das Verfahren, um einen Filibuster zu umgehen und die Steuersenkungen von Herrn Trump im Jahr 2017 zu genehmigen.

Die Weigerung der Republikaner, ein Konjunkturpaket von mehr als 1 Billion US-Dollar in Betracht zu ziehen, hielt die Größe des letzten im Dezember verabschiedeten Gesetzes zur Erleichterung des Kongresses niedrig. Die Berater von Herrn Biden sagten am Donnerstag, sie seien zuversichtlich, dass das von ihm vorgeschlagene Paket von fast 2 Billionen US-Dollar in einer Zeit, in der die Zinssätze niedrig bleiben und viele Ökonomen den Gesetzgeber auffordern, die Ausgaben zu defizitieren, um das Wirtschaftswachstum zu fördern, breite Unterstützung bei den Demokraten finden würde.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg trug zur Berichterstattung bei.

Categories
Health

Cuomo Outlines Plans to Revive Arts and Tradition Industries

Cuomo Outlines Plans to Revive Arts and Culture Industries

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that New York urgently needs to revitalize its arts and entertainment industries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic in the short term and get more unemployed artists back to work.

“We need to bring art and culture back to life,” said Cuomo as he continued a week-long series of political talks setting out his agenda for the state.

The governor said bringing back the arts and culture was vital – not just to help artists who have suffered from the country’s worst unemployment, but to make New York City an important and exciting hub in which to live people want to live and work.

“Cities are, by definition, centers of energy, entertainment, theater and cuisine,” Cuomo said, highlighting the threats the city is facing from the increase in remote working, crime and homelessness. “Without this activity and attraction, cities lose a lot of their attractiveness. What is a city without social, cultural and creative synergies? New York City is not New York without Broadway. “

Mr Cuomo said the state would form a public-private partnership to offer a series of nationwide pop-up concerts with artists including Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Renée Fleming and Hugh Jackman; launch a pilot program to investigate how socially distant performances can be safely held in flexible locations with undefined seating; and work with the Mellon Foundation to distribute scholarships that can help more than 1,000 artists get back to work and raise money for art groups in the community.

The governor said the state couldn’t wait until the summer when more people would be vaccinated to bring the performances back.

The public-private partnership New York Arts Revival, which will feature pop-up performances with more than 150 artists starting February 4th, is led by producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, along with the New York State Council on the Arts. The plan will culminate with the opening of Little Island, the park-like pier built by Barry Diller on the downtown Hudson River, and the Tribeca Film Festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in June.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

If I live in the US, when can I get the vaccine?

While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary from state to state, most doctors and residents of long-term care facilities will come first. If you want to understand how this decision is made, this article will help.

When can I get back to normal life after the vaccination?

Life will only get back to normal once society as a whole receives adequate protection against the coronavirus. Once countries have approved a vaccine, they can only vaccinate a few percent of their citizens in the first few months. The unvaccinated majority remain susceptible to infection. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines show robust protection against disease. However, it is also possible that people spread the virus without knowing they are infected because they have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Scientists don’t yet know whether the vaccines will also block the transmission of the coronavirus. Even vaccinated people have to wear masks for the time being, avoid the crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it becomes very difficult for the coronavirus to find people at risk to become infected. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve this goal, life could approach a normal state in autumn 2021.

Do I still have to wear a mask after the vaccination?

Yeah, but not forever. The two vaccines that may be approved this month clearly protect people from contracting Covid-19. However, the clinical trials that produced these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. That remains a possibility. We know that people who are naturally infected with the coronavirus can spread it without experiencing a cough or other symptoms. Researchers will study this question intensively when the vaccines are introduced. In the meantime, self-vaccinated people need to think of themselves as potential spreaders.

Will it hurt What are the side effects?

The vaccine against Pfizer and BioNTech, like other typical vaccines, is delivered as a shot in the arm. The injection is no different from the ones you received before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported serious health problems. However, some of them have experienced short-lived symptoms, including pain and flu-like symptoms that usually last a day. It is possible that people will have to plan to take a day off or go to school after the second shot. While these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system’s encounter with the vaccine and a strong reaction that ensures lasting immunity.

Will mRNA vaccines change my genes?

No. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to boost the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inside. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus that can stimulate the immune system. At any given moment, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules that they produce to make their own proteins. As soon as these proteins are made, our cells use special enzymes to break down the mRNA. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can only survive a few minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a little longer, so the cells can make extra viral proteins and trigger a stronger immune response. However, the mRNA can hold for a few days at most before it is destroyed.

Mr Cuomo said he hopes to expand rapid testing, including at pop-up locations, to make it easier for people to get tested before visiting restaurants or theaters in areas with sufficiently low virus rates. He pointed to the state’s experiment at the Buffalo Bills game last Saturday when the state tested nearly 7,000 fans.

There were problems with rapid tests. While rapid test devices are portable and can provide results quickly, many are not considered to be as reliable as other tests on people with no symptoms. The White House had relied on quick tests to protect President Trump and his inner circle by asking all White House visitors to take the test, even though that was not the way the test was supposed to be used.

New York reported at least 196 new coronavirus deaths and 14,179 new cases on Monday, and the rate of positive tests continues to rise.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost infectious disease expert in the United States, told performing arts professionals at a virtual conference Saturday that he believed theaters could reopen this fall with relatively few restrictions if the vaccination program were successful, despite it the audience suggested you may need to wear masks for some time.

“When we get to early to mid-fall, people can feel safe on stage, as can people in the audience,” said Dr. Fauci.

However, the distribution of vaccines in the US is behind schedule, and public health officials have made efforts to deliver the vaccine to hospital workers and at-risk older Americans.

Mr Cuomo said New York could not wait until enough people were vaccinated to achieve herd immunity before steps were taken to revitalize the performing arts scene.

“We’re seeing downtime for months,” he said. “We have to start acting now. We cannot float and let pain, hardship and inequality grow around us. “