Some of the least vaccinated states report grim numbers; FDA panel endorses boosters for some

Federal employees can be fired for refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, but as their disciplinary cases wind through the system, they will report to work alongside vaccinated colleagues, according to Biden administration guidance issued this week.

The new guidance to implement a vaccine mandate for the government, which Biden announced last week, represents a reversal of the strategy the White House coronavirus task force pushed in August for those employees without shots who refused under an earlier plan to get regular testing for covid-19.

Then, agencies were told they could place employees on administrative leave, a paid suspension used widely for short-term absences but also when a manager proposes removing an employee.

With flu season swiftly approaching in a country already battling a resurgence of the coronavirus, experts are urging Americans to avail themselves of any and all vaccines they are eligible for — whether it’s their first coronavirus vaccination, a booster vaccine dose to combat waning immunity or a flu shot.

“It’s terribly important” to get both the flu and coronavirus vaccines, said William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. “They are both very nasty respiratory viruses that can make many people very, very sick.”

And because the coronavirus and flu vaccines “train your immune system to protect you against completely different viruses,” getting a shot that protects you against one virus will not offer any protection against the other, said Kelly Moore, president and CEO of the Immunization Action Coalition.

A visual artist who planted more than 267,000 white flags last year for every life extinguished by covid-19 has reprised her work with more than double the number of flags on the National Mall.

Artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg told attendees at the exhibit’s opening ceremony on Friday that last year’s installation at RFK Stadium was a product of her outrage at what she saw as the “devaluation” of the lives of the elderly and people of color.

“I am no longer the artist who created that art last fall,” she said, adding that her outrage has slowly diminished but has not yet turned into hope. “I do have a sense of growing reassurance that we’re going to get out of this, that humanity will win out in the end.”

The new installation, which contains more than 660,000 small, white plastic flags, is spread across the Mall near the Washington Monument. “In America: Remember” will run through Oct. 3.

Firstenberg said the public can interpret her artwork in multiple ways, but she noted that the piece ultimately captures “the human dignity” of each person represented by a flag.

“This is a physical manifestation of empathy,” she said.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III shared remarks about how the pandemic has caused immense loss and how Firstenberg’s art is important to commemorate those who have died.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) urged attendees and those listening online to become vaccinated and touted that her city’s businesses and schools are open because of great sacrifice in bending the curve.

“We have experienced an overwhelming amount of tragedy during this pandemic, but today we have the knowledge and resources and tools to prevent others from experiencing the loss that each of these flags represents,” she said. “Now is not the time to give up on our fellow Americans.”

This year, the public can personalize flags for a loved one who died of covid-19. For those unable to make it the nation’s capital, they can dedicate a flag on the exhibit’s website until Sept. 30. That flag will then placed in physical form among the others on the Mall.

“I don’t want to plant any more flags,” Firstenberg said. “We shouldn’t have to plant flags.”

Kristen Solana Walkinshaw, a physician on the coronavirus triage committee at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, found her team last weekend making one of the most agonizing decisions of their careers. With the delta variant surging, the hospital was overwhelmed, and the doctor on call had paged the group for guidance.

Four patients needed continuous kidney dialysis, her colleague explained, but only two machines could be made available. How should I choose?

“This is the worst it’s been for us,” Solana Walkinshaw said, and “it’s not over.”

Here’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe from news service reports.

• India administered a record 22.6 million vaccinations Friday, according to the country’s health minister, three times the average daily total during the past month. Some states organized special immunization drives on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. India had previously hit a high of 14.1 million vaccinations on Aug. 31, and has had a daily average of 7 million doses over the past 30 days.
• Cambodia began vaccinating 6-to-11-year-olds Friday so students can safely return to schools after months-long closures because of the coronavirus. And on Thursday, Cuba began a huge vaccination campaign for children between ages 2 and 10, becoming one of the first countries to do so. Health officials say Cuba’s domestically produced vaccines have been found safe to give to young children.
• A major lawsuit is getting underway in Austria, where bereaved claimants are suing the government over its handling of an outbreak at a popular ski resort in 2020 that turned into a “superspreader” event. Relatives are seeking compensation in a widely watched test case, which could trigger other actions over covid-19 related deaths elsewhere in Europe.
• Italy has introduced one of the world’s toughest measures, making it mandatory for all workers to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from a covid-19 infection. Workers who cannot show a “green pass” health certificate starting from Oct. 15 could be fined, or suspended without pay but not fired, ministers said.
• In the U.K., rules for international travelers will be simplified in early October, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced Friday. Changes will eliminate the requirement for a negative coronavirus test for fully vaccinated travelers before boarding a flight.
• The World Health Organization has warned of a major vaccine shortfall across Africa, due to export bans and vaccine hoarding that have forced Covax, the multilateral initiative tasked with ensuring global access to vaccines, to slash deliveries. The WHO said the shortfall comes as Africa topped 8 million coronavirus cases this week, adding that an additional 470 million doses are needed to reach the year-end target of vaccinating 40 percent of the continent’s population.
• New Zealand and Australia suspended their quarantine-free “travel bubble” on Friday, amid concerns over rising delta coronavirus cases in the region. The situation will be reviewed in eight weeks, officials said.

Expert advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously Friday to recommend that the agency authorize a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for people 65 years and older or who are at risk for serious disease.

The vote is not binding, and Peter Marks, the FDA official overseeing coronavirus vaccines indicated that the final decision could be slightly different, including people who are at higher risk of infection because of their professions, such as health-care workers and frontline workers such as teachers. When the members were polled about whether they would agree with making boosters available to people who were at risk of infection because of exposure from their jobs, they all said yes. A decision about boosters by the FDA is expected next week.

The recommendation for a booster shot targeted primarily to older adults is far narrower than what the companies and top officials in the Biden administration had initially sought — a blanket approval to boost anyone 16 and up. The panel voted resoundingly against a broadly available booster. Many committee members said they felt uncomfortable about whether the benefits outweighed the risks to younger adults, citing the lack of robust safety data.

Putting the three authorized coronavirus vaccines head-to-head, researchers have found that the Moderna vaccine is the most effective against covid-19 hospitalization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

The CDC-led nationwide study involving more than 3,600 adults hospitalized for covid-19 between March and August found the effectiveness of Moderna’s vaccine against hospitalization was 93 percent, while that of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines was 88 percent and 71 percent, respectively.

The study, which reviewed hospitalizations for the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in 21 hospitals across 18 states, found that the biggest difference between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines was in the drop in effectiveness four months following immunization.

Moderna’s effectiveness declined to 92 percent while Pfizer’s effectiveness dropped to 77 percent over the same period of time.

The real-world data bolsters previous findings that Moderna may be more effective over time than the other available vaccines.

Despite the differences in effectiveness, researchers noted that all three vaccines provided “substantial protection.”

“Although these real-world data suggest some variation in levels of protection by vaccine, all FDA-approved or authorized COVID-19 vaccines provide substantial protection against COVID-19 hospitalization,” the researchers wrote.

The report comes as an advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration is meeting Friday to consider endorsing booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people who are fully vaccinated.

The Biden administration is buying hundreds of millions more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to donate to the world, according to two people familiar with the deal, as the United States looks to increase efforts to share vaccine with the global population.

The announcement of the purchase is slated for early next week and timed to coincide with the U.N. General Assembly meeting, said the people acquainted with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the donation.

The White House declined to comment. Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Details of the deal were not final Friday.