- Education Secretary Miguel Cardona expects all schools will reopen for in-person learning in time for the new school year.
- The CDC could approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12-15 in the next few weeks. Pfizer expects to ask the FDA to approve its vaccine for children between the ages 2-11 in September. Moderna states its vaccine is 96% effective in children aged 12-17.
- Moderna announced its booster shot that targets COVID-19 variants has proven successful. These booster shots could become regular vaccinations if new variants continue to develop.
- The CDC updated many of its guidelines including Safety Monitoring of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine – United States, March-April 2021; Communication Resources for COVID-19 Vaccines; and Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination.
Congress
- On May 11(10:00 am ET), the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing on the federal pandemic response. The hearing witnesses include Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) Director Dr. Peter Marks and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Chief Science Officer Dr. David Kessler.
White House and Federal Agencies
- A federal judge ruled that the CDC cannot continue its pandemic eviction moratorium but also placed a temporary hold on the decision from taking effect pending an appeal.
- Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says the U.S. needs to do more to address the mental health crisis that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
- Education Secretary Miguel Cardona expects all schools will reopen for in-person learning in time for the new school year.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Updates
- The CDC published the following reports and websites updates:
- Overall US COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Administration Update as of Wed, 05 May 2021 06:00:00 EST
- Cases in the U.S.
- Anxiety-Related Adverse Event Clusters After Janssen COVID-19 Vaccination – Five U.S. Mass Vaccination Sites, April 2021
- Safety Monitoring of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 Vaccine – United States, March-April 2021
- Effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Vaccines Against COVID-19 Among Hospitalized Adults Aged ≥65 Years – United States, January-March 2021
- SARS-CoV-2 Variants
- Communication Resources for COVID-19 Vaccines
- Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination
- Returning to Work
- Support For Teens and Young Adults
- Rural Communities
Economy, Vaccines, Testing and Treatment
- President Biden announced that the White House supports waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines as an effort to expand the availability of vaccines to other countries. The White House still needs to negotiate the terms of this waiver with the World Trade Organization (WTO) before it would take effect.
- The White House’s new vaccination goal is for 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by July 4.
- The federal government will shift away from its population-based methodology for distributing vaccines and towards a new need-based methodology. The federal government will make a state’s unused vaccines available for other states.
- The CDC says 56% of adults have received at least one shot. However, vaccination rates are slowing due to hesitancies held by unvaccinated adults.
- Persistent delays in vaccination rates could provide an opportunity for new variants that are resistant to vaccines to develop and take hold.
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) launched a new program to cover vaccination costs for uninsured Americans.
- Program fact sheet.
- HRSA is holding an informational webinar on the new program on May 12 at 2 pm ET: Registration Link.
- HRSA will provide $250 million in new funding for improving vaccinations in rural and medical underserved areas.
- The CDC could approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12-15 in the next few weeks. Pfizer expects to ask the FDA to approve its vaccine for children between the ages 2-11 in September.
- Moderna states its vaccine is 96% effective in children aged 12-17.
- The U.S. COVID-19 death toll continues to decline to new lows. Meanwhile, global cases are surging to new highs.
- The CDC believes we will see a surge in cases as states lift restrictions but that cases will ultimately decline by July due to high vaccination rates.
- BioNTech’s founders believe COVID-19 will continue to spread for at least another year until global vaccination rates improve.
- NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. has a moral obligation to help with the global pandemic response.
- Moderna is expanding its vaccine manufacturing site to increase its vaccine output.
- Moderna announced its booster shot that targets COVID-19 variants has proven successful. These booster shots could become regular vaccinations if new variants continue to develop.
- Eli Lilly & Co. is developing a new antibody therapy to treat COVID-19 variants.
- CVS Health announced that it will accept walk-in vaccine appointments at all of its pharmacy locations.
- Pfizer and BioNTech will provide vaccines for all of the athletes competing the in Olympics this year.
