Pa. woman among six with rare blood clot after receiving J&J vaccine; COVID-19 cases rising in Pa., falling in N.J.
The CDC and FDA are investigating six cases of an extremely rare clotting disorder associated with Johnson & Johnson's vaccine.
The FEMA-run mass vaccination site at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia will remain open another month with doses from the federal government.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have paused the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine as the CDC and FDA investigate rare reports of severe blood clots.
Bucks County is one of seven counties in Pennsylvania where COVID-19 cases have continued to rise quickly.
Adults 16 and over can now be vaccinated in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Philadelphia and New Jersey will open vaccine eligibility to all adults April 19.
Coronavirus cases are rising in and around Philadelphia. Here are the latest charts and trends.
The FEMA-run mass vaccination site at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia will remain open another month with doses from the federal government.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey have paused the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine as the CDC and FDA investigate rare reports of severe blood clots.
Bucks County is one of seven counties in Pennsylvania where COVID-19 cases have continued to rise quickly.
Adults 16 and over can now be vaccinated in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Philadelphia and New Jersey will open vaccine eligibility to all adults April 19.
Coronavirus cases are rising in and around Philadelphia. Here are the latest charts and trends.
Pfizer CEO says third vaccine dose ‘likely’ needed within 12 months
People who received Pfizer’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine will “likely” need a third dose with 12 months of being fully vaccinated, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC.
Bourla, in comments released Thursday but recorded April 1, said it’s also possible people will need to get a COVID-19 vaccine every year, similar to the flu.
“It is extremely important to suppress the pool of people that can be susceptible to the virus,” Bourla said, according to CNBC.
Earlier this month, Pfizer said its vaccine remained more than 90% effective against infection and 95% effective against severe disease up to six months after receiving the second dose, based on data from more than 12,000 participants. Beyond that, there is no data that shows how long protection from the vaccine lasts.
Moderna announced earlier this week its two-dose vaccine remained more than 90% effective against infection and 95% effective against severe disease six months after the second dose, citing updated data from its ongoing phase three clinical trial.
» READ MORE: Ready for a third vaccine shot? Tweaked COVID-19 doses in testing aim to fend off variants.
— Rob Tornoe
Cases continue to decline in New Jersey, but rate still among highest in the U.S.
Even as COVID-19 cases rise in much of the Northeast, the rate of new infections continues to dip down in New Jersey
The state reported 3,411 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, and is now averaging 3,241 new cases a day over the past seven days, according to an Inquirer analysis. Even with the decline, New Jersey has reported the third most new cases per capita in the country over the past seven days, behind Michigan and Rhode Island, according to the New York Times.
New Jersey also reported 47 new COVID-19 deaths. At least 25,053 New Jersey residents have died since contracting COVID-19.
As of Thursday, New Jersey has fully vaccinated 2.3 million people, and 1.3 million have received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. New Jersey is nearly half way towards its goal of fully vaccinating 4.7 million adults by June 30.
— Rob Tornoe
Pennsylvania reports 5,000 new cases as vaccine numbers continue to rise
Pennsylvania reported 5,060 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, as the rate of new infections continues to rise amid a surge being driven in part by the spread of high-transmissible variants.
The commonwealth is now averaging 4,830 new cases a day over the past seven days, according to an Inquirer analysis. The rate of new infections has doubled since March 8, when the seven-day average had dropped to 2,400 cases a day.
Pennsylvania reported 2,580 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 Thursday, up from 2,075 patients two weeks ago but well below levels seen during the winter peak. The Department of Health also reported 44 new COVID-19 deaths, driving up the death toll to at least 25,566 Pennsylvanians.
As of Thursday morning, Pennsylvania is averaging 103,000 vaccinations per day over the past seven days, according to the Department of Health. Pennsylvania has fully vaccinated over 2.5 million people, and nearly 1.9 million have received at least one dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Pennsylvania also extended the pause on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine until April 24 or until updated guidance is provided by the CDC and FDA. On Wednesday, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices declined to make recommendations without more information about a possible link between the shot and an ultra-rare, life-threatening blood-clotting disorder.
— Rob Tornoe
Walk-up vaccine appointments available today at Esperanza in Philly
Philadelphia residents eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine can secure a walk-up appointment Thursday at the FEMA-run clinic at Esperanza Community Vaccination Center, the Department of Public health announced.
In Philadelphia, vaccines are currently available for people in Phase 1a and Phase 1b and Phase 1c. The city will open vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 years or older starting April 19.
— Rob Tornoe
Pa. woman among six with rare blood clot after receiving J&J vaccine
One of the six women whose rare blood clot prompted U.S. officials to pause use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a Pennsylvania resident who was hospitalized in New Jersey, according to a New Jersey Department of Health spokesperson.
No other details about the woman were available.
Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine remains in limbo in the United States after the CDC and FDA recommended a pause as they investigate six cases of the rare clotting disorder in women aged 18 to 48, one of whom died.
Symptoms of the rare blood clotting, called cerebrospinal venous thrombosis, ranged from six to 13 days, and included severe headaches, significant abdominal and leg pain, and increased shortness of breath.
Three additional cases were disclosed at a meeting Wednesday of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. One was reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, and two — including a 25-year-old man — were reported directly to Johnson & Johnson as part of its clinical trial. No other details about those cases were available.
» READ MORE: J&J vaccine remains on pause as investigation continues into rare, deadly blood clots
— Rob Tornoe
U.S. jobless claims plunge to lowest level since pandemic
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to 576,000, a post-COVID low and a hopeful sign that layoffs are easing as the economy recovers from the pandemic recession.
The Labor Department said Thursday that applications plummeted by 193,000 from a revised 769,000 a week earlier. Jobless claims are now down sharply from a peak of 900,000 in early January.
For the week ending March 27, 16.9 million people were continuing to collect jobless benefits, down from 18.2 million in the previous week. Those figures make clear that even as the economy has strengthened in recent weeks, millions are facing a loss of a job or income and have been struggling to pay bills or rent.
The drop in claims comes after employers adding 916,000 jobs in March, the most since August, in a sign that a sustained recovery is taking hold as vaccinations accelerate, pandemic business restrictions are lifted in many states and Americans appear increasingly willing to travel, shop, eat out and otherwise spend again. The unemployment rate fell to 6%, from 6.2%, less than half the pandemic peak of nearly 15%.
— Associated Press
Pause on Johnson & Johnson vaccine will remain for time being
The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine will continue in limbo for at least a few weeks because a federal vaccine advisory committee on Wednesday declined to make recommendations without more information about a possible link between the shot and an ultra-rare, life-threatening blood-clotting disorder.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the panel agreed to reconvene in a week or two to consider whether the vaccine should be continued, discontinued, or recommended only for certain groups of the population.
“I do not want to vote on this issue today. I do not feel we have enough information to make an evidence-based decision,” said panel member Beth Bell, a professor of public health at the University of Washington.
Panel member Helen Talbot, a health-policy professor at Vanderbilt University, said strokes may be underreported in older adults who get the vaccine, “so I hesitate to say just use it in people over 50.”
“In this country, we have very good alternative vaccines that we are not seeing any safety signals in,” Talbot added, referring to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
A few people at Wednesday’s meeting were dismayed by the lack of a recommendation because the J&J vaccine — a single dose that does not require special refrigeration — is much easier to deliver to elderly, poor, and homebound people than the Pfizer and Moderna two-shot regimens are.
“Not making a decision is tantamount to making a decision,” said Nirav Shah, director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “The people most at risk of COVID-19 will remain at risk. I would urge any pause be accompanied by consideration of the equity issues.”
» READ MORE: J&J vaccine remains on pause as investigation continues into rare, deadly blood clots
— Marie McCullough
Cases rising in Pennsylvania, dropping in New Jersey
The number of new daily COVID-19 cases has doubled in Pennsylvania over the past month as the commonwealth races to vaccinate eligible adults.
Pennsylvania reported 5,730 new cases on Wednesday, and is now averaging 4,785 cases a day over the past seven days, according to an Inquirer analysis. That’s the fastest rate of new cases since early February, driven in part by the spread of the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus first detected in the United Kingdom.
The increase is part of a surge of new cases that have hit states in the northeast and midwest. Michigan continues to grapple with a spike far worse than other states, accounting for more than 10% of new cases in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Michigan is also home to 16 of the 17 metro areas with the highest recent case rates in the nation, according to the New York Times.
One hopeful sign is COVID-19 cases are now declining in New Jersey, which had also experienced a surge in new infections. The state is now averaging nearly 3,300 new cases a day, down 26% since the beginning of April.
— Rob Tornoe
COVID-19 surge in Japan threatens Olympics
The Olympic Games scheduled to be held in Tokyo this summer may have to be canceled depending on the coronavirus situation, a senior member of Japan’s ruling party said Thursday.
The remarks were the first public admission by the ruling party that cancellation or postponement were under serious consideration, though the challenges of holding the Games have become increasingly evident because of a worsening virus outbreak Japan.
“I want the Games to succeed, but to do so there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved,” Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Toshihiro Nikai said during a television interview. “If it seems impossible, it needs to be stopped.”
Japan recorded more than 4,000 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, its highest since late January, as it struggles to contain a fourth wave. More-infectious variants of the virus have been gaining ground, especially in Tokyo and Osaka, where they account for more than 80 percent of recent cases.
— Washington Post
COVID-19 news: CDC study finds keeping middle seat on airplanes open reduces COVID-19 exposure
CNN: Keeping middle seats vacant on airplanes can reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure by up to 57%, according to a new CDC study.
NPR: The CDC is studying “breakthrough” COVID-19 cases among people already vaccinated. The three vaccines authorized for use in the United States appear to be at least 94% effective at preventing severe disease and death, according to data reported so far, and about 80% effective at preventing infection. But that’s not 100%.
Fortune: Nearly 7 million Americans might not get a COVID-19 vaccine because they don’t know it’s free, according to a new U.S. Census survey.
Washington Post: India reported a record 200,000 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, becoming only the second country after the United States to reach such a staggering single-day toll.