Total Doses Distributed = 737,439,955. Total Doses Administered = 582,348,105. Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses = 257,942,199. Number of People Fully Vaccinated = 220,682,023.
COVID-19 Vaccination Data Updates
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
Far fewer Americans said “I do” during the first year of the pandemic when wedding plans were upended, a new report finds.
There were 1.7 million weddings in 2020, a drop of 17% from the year before and the lowest recorded since 1963, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
The plunge was not exactly a surprise since the U.S. marriage rate had been on the decline since 2016.
The pandemic threw many marriage plans into disarray, with communities ordering people to stay at home and banning large gatherings to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The CDC found that 46 states reported declines in marriage rates in 2020. Hawaii saw the largest drop in the country — 48% — followed by California, which fell 44%.
Nevada — long a popular wedding destination — continued to have the nation’s highest marriage rate. But even that state saw a 19% decline in the first year of the pandemic. Four states reported marriage increases — Montana, Texas, Alabama, and Utah, the CDC said.
The U.S. divorce rate also declined in 2020, though not as dramatically.
The latest report is based on marriage certificates filed with state and local governments. The CDC has not yet released data on marriages in 2021.
Wedding planners last year said they saw a rebound, with the rescheduling of postponed ceremonies. But some experts said it’s hard to know when U.S. marriages might return to pre-pandemic levels.
“It’s not been a great time for romance,” said John Santelli, a professor at Columbia University’s school of public health.
___
The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
The head of the World Health Organization said China’s extreme approach to containing the coronavirus is unsustainable because of the highly infectious nature of the omicron variant, but that it’s up to every country to decide what policy to pursue.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described China’s “zero-COVID” strategy as “not sustainable” after similar remarks last week drew sharp criticism from China.
“We know the virus better and we have better tools, including vaccines, so that’s why the handling of the virus should actually be different from what we used to do at the start of the pandemic,” Tedros said. He added that the virus had changed significantly since it was first identified in Wuhan in late 2019, when China largely stopped its spread with lockdowns.
Tedros said the WHO had repeatedly advised Chinese officials about their recommended COVID containment strategies, but that “regarding their choice of policies, it is up to every country to make that choice.”
The ruthless and often chaotic implementation of zero-COVID in China has stirred considerable resentment and food shortages in Shanghai, where some residents have been under lockdown for more than a month.
WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said the agency recognized that China had faced a difficult situation with COVID-19 recently and commended authorities for keeping the number of deaths to a very low level.
“We understand why the initial response of China was to try and suppress infections to the maximum level (but) that strategy is not sustainable and other elements of the strategic response needs to be amplified,” he said. Ryan added that vaccination efforts should continue and emphasized that “a suppression-only strategy is not a sustainable way to exit the pandemic for any country.”
WHO chief Tedros also said the agency was trying to convince North Korea and Eritrea to begin COVID-19 vaccination.
“WHO is deeply concerned at the risk of further spread in (North Korea),” Tedros said, noting that the population is unvaccinated and there are worrying numbers of people with underlying conditions that put them at risk of severe disease.
Tedros said the WHO has asked North Korea to share more data about the outbreak there — which state media have reported is affecting more than 1 million people — but has so far had no response. He said the WHO had offered to send both North Korea and Eritrea vaccines, medicines, tests and technical support, but that neither country’s leader has yet responded.
Ryan said any unchecked transmission in countries like North Korea and Eritrea could spur the emergence of new variants, but that the WHO was powerless to act unless countries accepted its help.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
Nearly 43,000 people were killed on U.S. roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the highways after the pandemic forced many to stay at home.
The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality data collection system in 1975.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said America faces a crisis on its roads. The safety administration urged state and local governments, drivers and safety advocates to join in an effort to reverse the rising death trend.
Preliminary figures released Tuesday by the agency show that 42,915 people died in traffic crashes last year, up from 38,824 in 2020. Final figures will be released in the fall.
Americans drove about 325 billion miles last year, 11.2% higher than in 2020, which contributed to the increase.
Traffic deaths began to spike in 2019. NHTSA has blamed reckless driving behavior for increases during the pandemic, citing behavioral research showing that speeding and traveling without a seat belt have been higher. Before 2019, the number of fatalities had fallen for three straight years.
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
U.S. regulators on Tuesday authorized a COVID-19 booster shot for healthy 5- to 11-year-olds, hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections once again creep upward.
Everyone 12 and older already was supposed to get one booster dose for the best protection against the newest coronavirus variants — and some people, including those 50 and older, can choose a second booster.
The Food and Drug Administration’s authorization now opens a third shot of Pfizer’s vaccine to elementary-age kids, too — at least five months after their last dose.
There is one more hurdle: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must decide whether to formally recommend the booster for this age group. The CDC’s scientific advisers are scheduled to meet on Thursday.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech make the only COVID-19 vaccine available for children of any age i n the U.S. Those ages 5 to 11 receive one-third of the dose given to everyone 12 and older.
Whether elementary-age children need a booster has been overshadowed by parents’ outcry to vaccinate even younger tots, those under 5 — the only group not yet eligible in the U.S. Both Pfizer and rival Moderna have been studying their shots in the youngest children, and the FDA is expected to evaluate data from one or both companies sometime next month.
For the 5- to 11-year-olds, it’s not clear how much demand there will be for boosters. Only about 30% of that age group have had the initial two Pfizer doses since vaccinations opened to them in November.
But Pfizer’s vaccine “is effective in helping to prevent the most severe consequences of COVID-19 in individuals 5 years of age and older,” said FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks ”A booster dose can help provide continued protection against COVID-19 in this and older age groups.”
In a small study, Pfizer found a booster revved up those kids’ levels of virus-fighting antibodies — including those able to fight the super-contagious omicron variant — the same kind of jump adults get from an extra shot.
While the coronavirus is more dangerous to adults than to children, youngsters can get severely ill — and more than 350 children ages 5 to 11 have died, according to CDC’s count.
Adding to public confusion, the CDC estimates 3 out of every 4 U.S. children of all ages have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic’s start — many of them during the winter omicron wave. Still, health authorities urge vaccination even in people who’ve previously had COVID-19, to strengthen their protection.
With subtypes of omicron now spreading, the U.S. is averaging about 91,000 cases reported a day, compared to about 57,000 just two weeks ago. That’s a small fraction of the infections seen during the brutal winter surge — but experts also say it’s a vast undercount as testing has dropped and at-home tests often aren’t reported.
Vaccination may not always prevent milder infections, especially as omicron and its siblings are better than some prior variants at slipping past those defenses. But health authorities agree the vaccinations continue to offer strong protection against the worst outcomes of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
The government website for people to request free COVID-19 at-home tests from the U.S. government is now accepting a third round of orders.
The White House announced Tuesday that U.S. households can request an additional eight free at-home tests to be shipped by the U.S. Postal Service.
The announcement comes as coronavirus cases are rising again in some areas of the country.
President Joe Biden committed in January to making 1 billion tests available to the public free of charge, including 500 million available through covidtests.gov. But just 350 million of the amount available for ordering online have been shipped to date to addresses across the continental U.S., its territories and overseas military bases, the White House said.
People who have difficulty getting online or need help placing an order can call 1-800-232-0233 for assistance,
The third round brings to 16 the total number of free tests available to each U.S. household since the program started earlier this year. Households were eligible to receive four tests during each of two earlier rounds of ordering through the website.
Biden has requested an additional $22 billion from Congress to buy vaccines and therapeutics to prepare for a fall spike in COVID-19 cases, but lawmakers have balked at the price tag.