Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, January 27 2021

In Washington:

• On Friday, President Biden pushed Congress to act urgently on his proposed COVID-19 relief package as the White House scraps to garner bipartisan support. "[T]his is a time to act now,” Biden said during a meeting with top economic advisers in the Oval Office. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who joined Biden for the meeting, added, “the benefits of acting now and acting big will far outweigh the costs in the long run." When asked, Biden seemed to reiterate the possibility that Democrats may try to pass the bill through reconciliation, saying, “I support passing COVID relief with support from Republicans if we can get it, but the covid relief has to pass. There's no ifs, ands or buts.”

• In case it hasn't been said enough, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden is focused on the end goal of delivering relief to the American people, not the parliamentary procedures.  "We can imagine that the one in seven families who are hungry or the thousands who have lost a loved one to COVID care much about the procedure, either,” she said. Psaki added that the  White House will not divide the COVID package up into pieces but noted that the final price tag is negotiable. "This is the legislative  process, this is democracy at work now."  The messaging seems to be coming from across the board, Democrats are moving forward with passing the coronavirus aid package and it is up to Republicans if they are going to be a part of the process or need to step aside.

• A top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said Friday that the agency will try to have a "streamlined" process for authorizing any updates required for COVID-19 vaccines to adapt to the threat of new variants. Peter Marks, the head of the FDA center that reviews vaccines, said during an American Medical Association webinar that the agency would work to "get these variants covered as quickly as possible." He said updated vaccines would not have to go through another full-scale phase three trial to test efficacy. Instead, he said, the agency could require "some small clinical trials.”

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) official Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Friday during a White House coronavirus briefing that he would like to see vaccines against the disease extended to children within the next few months. “Hopefully by the time we get to the late spring and early summer we will have children being able to be vaccinated,” Fauci said. Vaccines are not approved for children yet, but the federal government is gathering information and, Fauci said, will soon conduct trials on safety and effectiveness.

In the News:

• Johnson & Johnson announced that results from its clinical trials show that it provides strong protection against COVID-19.  The vaccine was 72 percent effective in the first data from a late-stage U.S. trial, the company said Friday. It was 66 percent effective in preventing moderate and severe disease in a global Phase 3 trial.  But the vaccine's efficacy fell to 52 percent against a virus variant first identified in South Africa.  The highly anticipated vaccine has several logistical advantages over authorized shots from Moderna and Pfizer: It is given as one dose and can be stored in refrigerators, rather than freezers.  The United States has purchased 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with an option to buy an additional 200 million doses. 

• United Airlines said the jobs of roughly 14,000 employees are at risk when a second round of federal aid expires this spring due to coronavirus-related downturns in air travel. United recently recalled to work some employees previously furloughed. Most recalled employees will return to furlough around April 1. Hawaiian Airlines also sent furlough notices to staff and said that it could cut up to 900 jobs when aid runs out March 31. According to a flight attendant union memo, some American Airlines employees could receive similar notices soon.

• Lawmakers in more than half the states are moving to curtail emergency powers their governors have used to combat the coronavirus pandemic. More than 150 bills and resolutions limiting a governor’s authority have been introduced in 27 states, according to reporting from The Hill. Most of the measures to curb executive authority have been introduced by Republican legislators, sparking battles in states with Democratic governors. But Republicans have also sought to limit the powers of some of the most conservative governors in the country. In Arizona, legislators said this week they would consider five bills to limit Gov. Doug Ducey’s (R) power, and recently censured him. 

• The World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus visited a Wuhan hospital Friday where Chinese officials say the first COVID-19 patients were treated more than a year ago.

Authored by Ivan Zapien