Total Doses Distributed = 701,686,165. Total Doses Administered = 560,181,791. Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses = 255,362,450. Number of People Fully Vaccinated = 217,498,967.
COVID-19 Vaccination Data Updates
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A federal judge in Texas is barring the Navy from taking action for now against sailors who have objected to being vaccinated against COVID-19 on religious grounds.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor had in January issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Navy from disciplining or discharging 35 sailors who sued over the Navy’s vaccine policy while their case played out. On Monday, O’Connor agreed the case could go forward as a class action lawsuit and issued a preliminary injunction covering the approximately 4,000 sailors who have objected on religious grounds to being vaccinated.
O’Connor said the larger group of sailors shared common characteristics with those who had sued. They had asked for and been denied an exemption to the vaccine requirement on religious grounds and were facing the threat of being discharged from the Navy, O’Connor wrote.
“Even though their personal circumstances may factually differ in small ways, the threat is the same — get the jab or lose your job,” wrote O’Connor, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last year made vaccinations mandatory for service members. More than 99% of the Navy’s active duty force has been vaccinated against COVID-19, and the Navy has also discharged 650 people for refusing to be vaccinated. Navy guidelines allow for exemptions to the vaccine requirement on religious and other grounds, including medical reasons and if a service member is about to leave the Navy.
Lawyers for the group of sailors who sued, most of them Navy SEALs, argue that the Navy had granted hundreds of exemptions for medical and administrative reasons but granted no religious exemptions for active duty and reserve service members. Nine inactive reserve members have been granted religious exemptions.
Mike Berry, the director of military affairs for First Liberty Institute, which is representing the sailors, said in a statement following O’Connor’s action that it’s “time for our military to honor its constitutional obligations and grant religious accommodations for service members with sincere religious objections to the vaccine.”
While the case is still at an early stage, the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief order Friday narrowed the impact of O’Connor’s original injunction, saying that the Navy could still consider the vaccination status of the sailors who sued in making deployment, assignment and other operational decisions. O’Connor’s latest injunction allows the Navy to consider vaccination status in making those decisions about members of the larger group as well.
President Joe Biden’s administration had argued that not allowing the Navy to consider vaccination status in making assignments posed “intolerable risks to safety and mission success.”
“Navy personnel routinely operate for extended periods of time in confined spaces that are ripe breeding grounds for respiratory illnesses, where mitigation measures such as distancing are impractical or impossible,” Biden administration lawyers wrote. “A SEAL who falls ill not only cannot complete his or her own mission, but risks infecting others as well, particularly in close quarters, including on submarines.”
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Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
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Many Americans have taken significant steps back from once-routine coronavirus precautions, with fewer than half now saying they regularly wear face masks, avoid crowds and skip nonessential travel.
Americans are letting down their guard even as experts warn a new wave of COVID-19 cases is coming. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows fewer people taking protective measures than at any point in AP-NORC polls conducted since early 2021.
The poll found 44% say they often or always wear a face mask around people outside of their homes, down from 65% in January when infections of the highly contagious omicron variant were soaring. Just 40% say they’re largely avoiding nonessential travel, compared with 60% in January. And 47% say they regularly stay away from large groups, down from 65% in January.
Most Americans say they at least sometimes still follow those safeguards. But they’re increasingly returning to pre-pandemic norms as coronavirus infections have fallen to their lowest level since July.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends masking indoors for most Americans, while cities are lifting mask and vaccine requirements to enter restaurants, bars and concert venues. And more U.S. workers are returning to offices after two years of doing their jobs at home.
Judy Morgan, a retired teacher from Poulsbo, Washington, said she and her husband, a Navy veteran, have gradually become more relaxed about wearing masks and other precautions since getting their vaccine booster shots in late October. Roughly six weeks ago, she went back to shopping without a mask when the Navy base where she buys groceries stopped requiring face coverings.
“I figured when the military starts easing up, because they’re pretty strict, that’s a very good sign,” said Morgan, 80.
Morgan and her husband plan to put their masks back on at the airport later this week when they fly to Florida to celebrate her birthday. She said they were extra cautious earlier in the pandemic because her husband has a heart condition that makes him more susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19 — and she’s ready to go back to that behavior if another severe wave of infections hits.
“My hope is that it’s tapering off and every variation will be somewhat less viral or significant,” Morgan said. “But my fear is something new will happen.”
Experts say the coronavirus isn’t going away, and most Americans recognize the virus will stick around. In January, an AP-NORC poll showed just 15% of Americans said the pandemic will be over when COVID-19 is mostly eliminated. Most said they expect the pandemic to end when it’s largely a mild virus.
But that might not be the case just yet. Experts still say new variants could soon start another wave of rising infections in the U.S. Scientists are closely watching an extra-contagious spinoff of omicron that already has case numbers climbing in parts of Europe and Asia, as well as a delta-omicron hybrid, though so far infections of that variant appear to be rare.
Sonia Montoya, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, isn’t taking any chances. The 65-year-old bookkeeper still works remotely from her office colleagues, orders any restaurant meals to go and makes sure to wear a mask when shopping or attending church. Six of Montoya’s relatives and friends died from the virus, and she said she’s still very worried about getting sick even though she’s vaccinated.
“It came back and hit us again once before, and I have a feeling if we aren’t cautious we are going to do it again,” Montoya said. “Yes, it’s slowing down, but there’s a lot of stupid people out there, especially the younger ones that don’t think it’s serious.”
Since vaccines became widely available to the American public, AP-NORC polls have consistently shown that vaccinated people are more worried about infections and more likely to take preventive steps than the unvaccinated. The vaccinated are still more likely than the unvaccinated to say they’re always or often avoiding nonessential travel (44% to 29%), staying away from large groups (51% to 32%) and wearing face masks around other people (49% to 26%).
But the new poll shows that over the past two months the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike have become less likely to regularly take those precautions. Likewise, both Democrats and Republicans are less likely than they were in January to say they frequently take protective measures.
Jason Newman, of Greenville, Kentucky, said he never wears a mask unless he’s required to, has no concerns about dining out and never got vaccinated. He said he’s tested positive for COVID-19 twice but suffered no symptoms either time.
The 43-year-old postal worker said in recent months he’s noticed more people who seem to be treating the virus the way he does.
“It’s always going be here no matter what, because they won’t be able to eradicate it,” Newman said. “I think, by and large, they’re all over it.”
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The AP-NORC poll of 1,082 adults was conducted March 17-21 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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The European Union’s drug regulator said Tuesday it has begun an accelerated review process for an experimental coronavirus vaccine booster made by the Spanish company Hipra.
The European Medicines Agency said in a statement that its evaluation is based on preliminary data from laboratory studies and research in adults that compared Hipra’s booster shot to the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech. It said early results suggest the immune response achieved with Hipra “may be effective” against COVID-19, including the hugely infectious omicron variant.
Hipra is a protein-based vaccine and is made using similar technology as the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which was authorized by the EMA and other agencies in December. It contains two versions of the coronavirus’ spike protein that were made in a lab, which are intended to prompt an immune response when a person is immunized.
Hipra is intended to be a booster shot in people who have been fully vaccinated with a messenger RNA vaccine or a vector-based vaccine, like the ones made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Until now, Hipra has mainly focused on making vaccines for animals.
Scientists believe using different types of vaccines can increase the body’s immune response and numerous countries have adopted a “mix-and-match” strategy for COVID-19 vaccination.
Hipra has reportedly sold tens of millions of its vaccine to Vietnam and has estimated it could make about 600 million doses this year.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
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U.S. regulators on Tuesday authorized another COVID-19 booster for people age 50 and older, a step to offer extra protection for the most vulnerable in case the coronavirus rebounds.
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision opens a fourth dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines to that age group at least four months after their previous booster.
Until now, the FDA had cleared fourth doses only for people 12 and older who have severely weakened immune systems. The agency said this especially fragile group also can get an additional booster, a fifth shot.
The latest expansion, regardless of people’s health, allows an extra shot to millions more Americans — and the question is whether everyone who’s eligible should rush out and get it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to weigh in.
Everyone eligible for a first booster who hasn’t gotten one yet needs to, FDA vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said. But the second booster is only for these higher-risk groups because “current evidence suggests some waning of protection” for them.
The move comes at a time of great uncertainty. COVID-19 cases have dropped to low levels after the winter surge of the super-contagious omicron variant. Two vaccine doses plus a booster still provide strong protection against severe disease and death, CDC data show.
But an omicron sibling is causing a worrisome jump in infections in Europe — and spreading in the U.S. — even as vaccination has stalled. About two-thirds of Americans are fully vaccinated, and half of those eligible for a first booster haven’t gotten one.
Pfizer had asked the FDA to clear a fourth shot for people 65 and older, while Moderna requested another dose for all adults “to provide flexibility” for the government to decide who really needs one. The FDA set age 50 as the threshold for both companies. As for the immune-compromised, only the Pfizer vaccine can be used in those as young as 12; Moderna’s is for adults.
There’s limited evidence to tell how much benefit another booster could offer right now. FDA made the decision without input from its independent panel of experts that has wrestled with how much data is required to expand shots.
“There might be a reason to top off the tanks a little bit” for older people and those with other health conditions, said University of Pennsylvania immunologist E. John Wherry, who wasn’t involved in the government’s decision.
But while he encourages older friends and relatives to follow the advice, the 50-year-old Wherry — who is healthy, vaccinated and boosted — doesn’t plan on getting a fourth shot right away. With protection against severe illness still strong, “I’m going to wait until it seems like there’s a need.”
None of the COVID-19 vaccines are as strong against the omicron mutant as they were against earlier versions of the virus. Also, protection against milder infections naturally wanes over time. But the immune system builds multiple layers of defense and the type that prevents severe illness and death is holding up.
During the U.S. omicron wave, two doses were nearly 80% effective against needing a ventilator or death — and a booster pushed that protection to 94%, the CDC recently reported. Vaccine effectiveness was lowest — 74% — in immune-compromised people, the vast majority of whom hadn’t gotten a third dose.
U.S. health officials also looked to Israel, which during the omicron surge opened a fourth dose to people 60 and older at least four months after their last shot. The FDA said no new safety concerns emerged in a review of 700,000 fourth doses administered.
Preliminary data posted online last week suggested some benefit: Israeli researchers counted 92 deaths among more than 328,000 people who got the extra shot, compared to 232 deaths among 234,000 people who skipped the fourth dose.
What’s far from clear is how long any extra benefit from another booster would last, and thus when to get it.
“The ‘when’ is a really difficult part. Ideally we would time booster doses right before surges but we don’t always know when that’s going to be,” said Dr. William Moss, a vaccine expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Plus, a longer interval between shots helps the immune system mount a stronger, more cross-reactive defense.
“If you get a booster too close together, it’s not doing any harm — you’re just not going to get much benefit from it,” said Wherry.
The newest booster expansion may not be the last: Next week, the government will hold a public meeting to debate if everyone eventually needs a fourth dose, possibly in the fall, of the original vaccine or an updated shot.
As for updating vaccines, studies in people — of omicron-targeted shots alone or in combination with the original vaccine — are underway. The National Institutes of Health recently tested monkeys and found “no significant advantage” to using a booster that targets just omicron.
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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.
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British police are getting ready to issue a first batch of fines over parties held by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staff during coronavirus lockdowns.
The Metropolitan Police declined to confirm reports multiple U.K. media outlets that fines would come as soon as Tuesday, saying it wouldn’t give “a running commentary” on its investigation.
Dozens of politicians and officials have been investigated over allegations that the government flouted the rules that it imposed on the country during the pandemic.
London’s Metropolitan Police sent questionnaires to more than 100 people, including the prime minister, and interviewed witnesses as part of the investigation.
The “partygate” scandal had left Johnson’s tenure precarious before Russia launched a war in Ukraine more than a month ago that gave Britain’s politicians more urgent priorities.
Johnson’s leadership grip on power was shaken by public anger over revelations that his staff held “bring your own booze” office parties, birthday celebrations and “wine time Fridays” in 2020 and 2021 while millions in Britain were barred from meeting with friends and family because of his government’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Johnson has denied any wrongdoing, but he is alleged to have been at several of the dozen events in his 10 Downing St. office and other government buildings that are being investigated by the police.
Opponents, and some members of the governing Conservative Party, said Johnson should resign if he is issued a fine for breaking the rules.