Month: January 2021

Operation Warp Speed's chief scientific adviser, Moncef Slaoui, said Sunday that it could be months before researchers know for certain if transmission of COVID-19 is possible from a person who has received the vaccine. On CBS's "Face the Nation," host Margaret Brennan asked Slaoui when scientists will know if such transmission is possible, a key factor for determining when the U.S. will develop herd immunity to the virus. "Do you have a date for when you will know whether once you've been vaccinated you can still give the virus to others?" asked Brennan. "No," Slaoui responded. "Those studies, frankly, are going to be based on observational data into the population. I don't think we will have data before late in the spring." Does #OperationWarpSpeed have a timeline of once ...

TEL AVIV—Israel has inoculated nearly half of its most at-risk citizens and more than 10% of the population in two weeks as authorities accelerate a Covid-19 vaccination drive after early hiccups had led to wasted shots. The small country—with roughly nine million people, about the same as New York City—now aims to immunize the majority of its people by early spring. Israel’s vaccination campaign is relatively simple compared with the mass mobilizations needed by countries with many more people and a greater sweep of geography. Israel started with vaccinating its health-care workers and those over the age of 60 on Dec. 20 after receiving early shipments of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine. By Saturday, it had administered 12.59 doses per 100 of its people, according to the Oxford University-based...

COVID REMAINS TOP OF MIND AND ISLANDS COULD SEE MORE TAX CUTS. LAWMAKERS RETURN TO THE TAX -- TO THE LAW HOUSE ON JANUARY 7 AND THEY KNOW THINGS COULD BE DIFFERENT. >> I THINK A PRETTY SHORT SESSION IN A DIFFERENT SESSION. >> WITH A VACCINE BRINGING HOPE ON THE HORIZON, LAWMAKERS WILL RETURN TO THE CAPITAL IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC. REPUBLICANS WILL CONTINUE TO CONTROL OLD CHAMBERS, MAINTAINING THE SENATE AND EXPANDING YOUR HOUSE MAJORITY IN THE 2020 ELECTIONS. REPUBLICAN SENATOR BRAD SAYS HE AND HIS FELLOW LAWMAKERS WILL BE TACKLING PANDEMIC RELATED ISSUES, INCLUDING SMALL BUSINESS HELP. >> I WANT TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS TAKING CARE OF. >> IN ISSUE THE DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE SAYS HER PARTY WILL FOCUS ON AS WELL. >> THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE ...

A worker of the New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services (FDNY EMS) receives a COVID-19 Moderna vaccine, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 23, 2020. Carlo Allegri | Reuters The head of the federal government's Covid-19 vaccine program said Sunday that health officials are exploring the idea of giving a major group of Americans half volume doses of one vaccine to accelerate the rollout. Moncef Slaoui, the head of Operation Warp Speed, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that one way to speed up immunizations against Covid-19 was to give two half-volume doses of the Moderna vaccine to some individuals. "We know that for the Moderna vaccine giving half the do...

DILLON: WELL, WE ARE IN A VERY DANGEROUS SPOT FOR HOSPITALIZATIONS ACROSS THE STATE. THEY’RE AT ONE OF THE HIGHEST LEVELS EVER STATEWIDE, HEAD OF ANOTHER EXPECTED SURGE FROM THE HOLIDAYS. THE STACKED TO WATCH RIGHT NOW IS THE MEMBER OF HOSPITALIZATIONS STATEWIDE. LAST NIGHT, A RECORD PEOPLE IN 501 THE ICU, MORE THAN 1900 COVID PATIENTS TOTAL. HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY IF THAT NUMBER DOESN’T START TO FALL, IT COULD PLUNGE HOSPITALS INTO FURTHER CRISIS. YOU CAN SEE ON THE CHART OF NEW CASES THAT WE JUST SAW A DROP SIMILAR TO THE ONE AFTER THANKSGIVING. WE MAY SEE ANOTHER ONE TOO AFTER NEW YEAR’S. IT COULD BE WEEKS BEFORE WE GET A GOOD SENSE OF OUR CASE NUMBERS BECAUSE OF THE HOLIDAY. TOMORROW’S CASE REPORT WILL COME DOWN ON SATURDAY. ON SUNDAY, THERE WILL BE A DOUBLE REPORT BEFORE GOI...