Moderna, one of the three companies authorized to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Americans on an emergency basis, announced Tuesday that it has begun applying for a full license from the Food and Drug Administration.
 In December, the FDA authorized the use of Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines on an emergency basis, enabling them to skip providing long-term data to get their vaccines out to the public faster. Now, both companies, which have together been used to vaccinate 168 million Americans with at least one shot, have collected that data and begun providing it to the regulatory agency. Last month, Pfizer/BioNTech applied for full approval for anyone over 16 years of age.
Both vaccines have been shown to be very safe and more than 90% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and are not expected to have a problem receiving a full Biologics License from the FDA. The process, however, could take weeks to a few months.
Both groups have released data showing their vaccines are also safe and effective in adolescents ages 12 and up, though they do not yet have long-term data in this age group. Some Americans have said they would prefer to wait until vaccines are fully approved before getting vaccinated.
– Karen Weintraub
Also in the news:
►India, after a spike in cases that began in February and surged in April and early May, has reported plummeting infections for the past three weeks. But the death toll is still high and began to drop slightly last week, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
►2020 saw a surge in U.S. legal cannabis sales from 2019, up 46% to $17.5 billion, according to data from market researcher BDSA.
►The World Health Organization has created a new system to name COVID-19 variants, getting away from place-based names that can be hard to pronounce, difficult to remember and stigmatize a specific country.
â–ºThe Transportation Security Administration reported the number of passengers screened at U.S. airports Friday through Sunday topped 1.6 million each day; Friday had a high of 1.96 million. That’s the biggest figure since March 8, 2020, just before the pandemic was starting to take hold in this country. Last Memorial Day weekend, the total for the first three days was 861,000.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has more than 33.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and 594,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: Over 170.7 million cases and 3.55 million deaths. More than 135 million Americans have been fully vaccinated – 40.7% of the population, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re reading: The COVID-19 vaccines are among the best ever created. Drug companies are trying to make them even better.
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California, Maryland latest states to inoculate 70% of adults
California and Maryland are the 11th and 12th states to make the July 4 benchmark set by President Joe Biden, who announced last month that he was making it a goal to inoculate 70% of U.S. adults with at least one COVID-19 shot by that date. So far, at least 62% of adults are there, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 70% of adults in California have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday. Maryland also reached the milestone Monday.
But many states are lagging behind. Alabama, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Wyoming all have vaccination rates under 40%. In Alabama, 36% of the state has received at least one dose.Â
“It’s very distressing because we have vaccines and we have it in every corner of Alabama,†said Dr. Karen Landers, assistant state health officer.
Peru says death toll nearly triple official numbers
Officials from Peru announced Monday that the country’s pandemic death toll reached 180,764 through May 22, almost triple the official death toll, which was 68,000 until now.Â
The country of 32.6 million has been hard hit by the pandemic. Scenes of cemeteries filling up with new burials and hospitals buying refrigerated containers to act as makeshift morgues suggested the situation was far worse than the official data showed, even at the beginning of the pandemic.
“What is being said is that a significant number of deaths were not classified as caused by COVID-19,†Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said, adding that the criteria for assigning the coronavirus as a cause of death were changed.
Ugarte said that previously only those who “had a positive diagnostic test†were considered to have died from the virus, but other criteria have since been incorporated.
Mobile vaccination units hit tiny US towns to boost immunity
Two Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile trailers have meandered through Nevada to towns without pharmacies, clinics or other vaccination sites, giving doctors, nurses and National Guardsmen a first-hand look at rural and tribal communities where finding vaccinations has been difficult for residents.
To preserve the vaccine, the trailers are equipped with ultra-cold refrigerators powered by generators-on-wheels. On Monday, the two mobile clinics completed six-week loops through Nevada that included returning to finish two-shot regimens in the state that covers an area that would stretch from Boston to Baltimore and Buffalo, New York.
Initially, the goal was to vaccinate 250 people a day at each stop. But the numbers have varied, as vaccine supply has increased and demand has fallen.
“Just a month ago, people were still having a hard time finding vaccination sites. That’s really changed in the last three or four weeks and now we’re trying to find people that are more vaccine-hesitant,†said Marc Reynolds, a doctor from Fallon who has volunteered at the mobile clinic in his hometown and the state prison in Lovelock.
The clinics have delivered 7,600 shots during two tours of Nevada and have also been used in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky and other states. Nevada Division of Emergency Management Chief Dave Fogerson said people in the remote communities of the state “probably would not have got it any other way.â€
Contributing: The Associated Press.
