Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines, March 26 2021

In Washington:

PROGRAMMING NOTE:  We will not be publishing the Coronavirus: Hill and the Headlines during the congressional recess (March 29 - April 9).  We will return on April 12 with a new schedule where we will publish on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  We hope you enjoy the recess! 

• The White House said Friday that Johnson & Johnson will deliver at least 11 million doses next week, a significant increase to hit the company's target of 20 million total doses delivered to the U.S. by the end of March. Whether the company would be able to meet the 20 million-dose target was uncertain, as Johnson & Johnson experienced uneven manufacturing. Pfizer and Moderna, which have had steadier manufacturing processes, are also on track to meet their goals for the end of March, Zients said. Pfizer had previously set a goal of 120 million total doses by the end of March, with 100 million for Moderna.

• GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology announced Friday they are submitting their investigational monoclonal antibody for FDA review after encouraging results from a late-stage clinical trial showed it significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization and death. The companies are requesting clearance for use by high-risk people age 12 and older.

• The U.S. could suffer another surge in COVID-19 cases unless pandemic safety measures are maintained, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Friday. The nation is recording a seven-day average of about 57,000 new coronavirus cases per day, a 7 percent jump over the last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing. “I remain deeply concerned about this trajectory,” Walensky said. 

• Americans can get a tax break this filing season for masks, hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, and other personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the IRS announced Friday. The tax code lets taxpayers deduct medical costs that exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income each year. The IRS is counting costs incurred for PPE as a medical expense that qualifies for the tax break.

• Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that he expects to invite President Biden to the Tokyo Summer Olympics, which will begin on July 23. Suga told reporters that he plans to invite Biden when he visits the White House on April 6. Suga’s visit to the White House will be Biden’s first in-person meeting with a foreign official.  In an effort to prevent the spread of the virus at the Olympics, Japan recently announced that foreign fans will not be allowed to attend the games.

• Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said Friday she was "deeply concerned" about the trajectory. The most recent seven-day average of new cases was up by about 7% from the prior week, while hospitalizations have increased slightly and deaths have hovered, she said.

• A new National Institutes of Health (NIH) backed study launched Thursday will examine whether college students vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine can spread the virus to their close contacts, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday. Fauci said the study will span 12,000 college students at more than 20 universities over five months.

In the news:

• A new study examining coronavirus vaccine response in pregnant and nursing women found that antibodies from mothers were present in their umbilical cord blood and breast milk, suggesting that inoculated women who are pregnant or breastfeeding may pass immunity on to babies. The results suggested that “the baby does have protection; we just don’t know how long it will last,” Andrea Edlow, a co-author of the study, told NBC News. The CDC notes that experts believe vaccines are safe for pregnant people but that data on the topic is limited.

• Players on the NBA's Golden State Warriors team received coronavirus vaccinations over three weeks before California residents were able to receive them. The team stated on Thursday that an undisclosed number of players and coaches were given early access to the vaccine, according to a report on NBC News. “The players and coaches who received the vaccine were eligible under the most recent state and CDC guidelines,” Warriors Senior Vice President Raymond Ridder told the news outlet. 

• Top health officials from the Trump administration recently held a series of discussions to coordinate their accounts of the administration’s troubled Covid-19 response. It appears the officials are banding together as they worry they will be “scapegoated” by old colleagues, including their onetime boss, former Health Secretary Alex Azar.  The group includes former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, former CDC Director Robert Redfield, former Medicare chief Seema Verma, and former White House Covid coordinator Deborah Birx.

Authored by Ivan Zapien