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COVID-19 Federal Responses: Monday, April 5, 2021

COVID-19 Federal Responses: Monday, April 5, 2021

White House and Federal Agencies

  • Health and Human Services (HHS) is facilitating a public competition to develop “the next generation” of protective face masks. The winner will receive a $500,000 cash prize.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Updates

Economy, Vaccines, Testing and Treatment

  • The U.S. vaccination rate is outpacing the global average five to one.
  • The federal government directed Johnson & Johnson to take control of the manufacturing plant that caused 15 million vaccine doses to go to waste due to manufacturing errors. The plant, which produced vaccines for both Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, will no longer manufacture AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
  • Johnson & Johnson will soon begin testing its vaccine in adolescents aged 12-17.
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci believes the U.S.’ improving vaccination rates will help us avoid a fourth wave of COVID-19 infection as severe as previous surges.
  • NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci disagrees with the position taken by some public health officials in other countries that the second vaccine dose can be delayed in order to increase the availability of first doses.
  • The FDA authorized Moderna to increase the number of vaccine doses in each vial from 10 to 15. The FDA also is allowing providers to extract up to 11 doses from Moderna’s 10 dose vials.
  • NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said that the U.S. might not need AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. This would make that vaccine more available to other countries.
  • New research into concerns that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine causes blood clots found a total of 30 cases of blood clots which suggests it is a relatively rare occurrence
  • Sunday marked the fewest reported COVID-19 deaths in over one year.
  • NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci says the federal government does not plan to mandate “vaccine passports” to prove COVID-19 vaccinations.

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