Republicans ramp up challenges of Biden vaccine mandate

Europe is once again at the epicenter of the pandemic, the World Health Organization announced, as cases have climbed despite the availability of vaccines.

Half of the worldwide cases were in Europe last week, the global health agency said, warning that even those outside the continent should be worried about transmission. To prevent further spread, countries must improve their vaccination rates, Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said in a video statement Thursday. Kluge noted that while eight countries have exceeded an average vaccination rate of 70 percent, at least two countries have rates below 10 percent — a sign of the disproportionate uptake of shots. Countries with lower vaccination rates have higher hospitalization rates, Kluge said.

Last week, Europe and central Asia reported nearly 1.8 million new cases and 24,000 new deaths. Europe’s infections have gone up more than 55 percent in the past month.

Meanwhile, more than 1 billion doses of the vaccine have been given out on the continents. But while deaths are much lower because of improved vaccination rates, the more transmissible Delta variant continues to dominate transmission across Europe and central Asia.

WHO Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove, acknowledging the “ample” supply of vaccines available in much of Europe, said countries need to individually decide how they can curb transmission and take action, from boosting their immunization rates to deploying other tactics like mask-wearing and social distancing.

“We have the opportunity and we have to do this now,” she said during Thursday’s WHO press briefing following Kluge’s announcement. “How many more people need to die? How many more countries need to be put into severe situations?”

“Use the tools you have now to act fast,” she said.

Michael Ryan, WHO’s executive director of emergencies program, blamed, in part, people relaxing their safety measures, at a time when the health-care system is exhausted from nearly two years of a pandemic.

“We seem to be constantly surprised by the simple behavior of viral pathogens,” he said. “Exhaustion is leading to compliancy.”

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday that it has referred the cases of more than three dozen unruly passengers to the FBI for potential criminal prosecution in hopes of curbing a sharp uptick in people acting violently on planes this year.

The step comes as U.S. airlines grapple with an increase in disruptive or violent incidents onboard flights — many involving hostile passengers protesting mask mandates as travel goes back to pre-pandemic levels.

“Let this serve both as a warning and a deterrent: If you disrupt a flight, you risk not just fines from the FAA but federal criminal prosecution as well,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said Thursday in a news release.

In August, the FAA and the Justice Department began developing an information-sharing protocol to refer the most serious cases to the FBI for further review and faster prosecution, the agencies said in a joint statement.

Novavax said Thursday that it has submitted its coronavirus vaccine candidate to the World Health Organization for emergency-use listing, potentially expanding the global supply of doses for countries that have struggled to immunize their populations.

The news comes days after the company received its first emergency-use authorization, from Indonesia, for its vaccine candidate, Covovax. Delayed by manufacturing regulatory issues, the Maryland biotechnology company has not yet sought authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. It recently submitted its vaccine to regulators in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, New Zealand and Britain.

The two-dose shot, created with recombinant nanoparticle technology, is 90 percent effective at preventing illness, according to Novavax. The development method, a more traditional approach than the mRNA technology used by others, could curb vaccine hesitancy, according to experts. In addition, it is easier to store and transport than some other vaccines, potentially offering an easier option for poorer countries struggling to boost their immunization rates.

“Today’s submission reflects our continued focus on accelerating access and equitable distribution as we work to bring our vaccine to people in need around the globe,” Novavax President and CEO Stanley C. Erck wrote in a statement. “We continue to work with urgency to deliver our COVID-19 vaccine, built on a proven, well-understood vaccine platform, because no one is safe until everyone is safe.”

Erck previously told The Washington Post that the company expects to hit its target of 150 million doses a month in the last three months of the year.

Novavax said in its quarterly earnings report Thursday that it was on track to achieve that goal by the end of this year and expects to have capacity in excess of 2 billion annual doses in 2022.

Eric Adams, who was just elected mayor of New York, said he would review the vaccine mandate imposed on municipal workers that has been unpopular among some members of unions representing the city’s firefighters and police officials.

Adams, a former police captain, said, “The mask mandates we should keep in place... We need to revisit how we are going to address the vaccine mandates.”

Adams, who will be sworn in on Jan. 1, said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program on Wednesday, that he was reluctant to interfere with the covid-19 policy of outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio immediately.

“I stated I did not want to Monday-morning quarterback the mayor,” he said. “But what I am going to encourage him to do is to sit down with the unions,” he said referring to the groups representing employees of the city’s fire and police departments.

During the campaign, Adams, a retired police captain, said he backs de Blasio’s vaccine mandate, and the benching of law enforcement officials and firefighters who didn’t adhere to the mayor’s order to get at least a dose of a coronavirus vaccine by 5 p.m. Oct. 29. But he has said he’d be more willing to sit down with noncompliant officials to reach a deal.

About 92 percent of city workers who fell under the mayor’s vaccine mandate were compliant on Wednesday, de Blasio told reporters. That was up from 84 percent on Oct. 20, when the requirements affecting the police officers and firefighters were announced.

About 86 percent of adults in the nation’s most populous city have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to de Blasio.

Companies with more than 100 employees will now be mandated to require coronavirus vaccinations for their workers or do regular testing by Jan. 4 under the terms of a new federal rule that will be released Friday by the Biden administration after weeks of deliberation, senior government officials said.

The hotly anticipated rule, which is being implemented on an emergency basis by the Labor Department, is one of the White House’s most strenuous attempts to increase vaccination rates across the country to address the lingering public health crisis. The policy is already being contested by Republicans and the small but vocal anti-vaccine factions that have proved so disruptive politically over the past year.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said on Thursday that she intends to take “immediate legal action” against President Biden’s new vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 employees.

“Biden’s plan pits Americans against Americans while forcing them to choose between making a living or standing up for their personal beliefs,” Reynolds told the Des Moines Register. “Biden’s actions will only worsen the existing workforce shortages and supply chain issues that hinder our economic recovery.”

The rules, which were detailed on Thursday, become effective on Jan. 4, potentially affecting more than 2,200 businesses in the Hawkeye State.

Reynolds has been part of the group of elected officials pushing back against Biden’s quest to have more Americans vaccinated. Iowa joined 18 other states last week to sue the administration over a requirement that mandates vaccines for federal contractors.

“I believe the vaccine is the best defense against COVID-19, but I also firmly believe in Iowans’ right to make healthcare decisions based on what’s best for themselves and their families, and I remain committed to protecting those freedoms,” Reynolds told the Des Moines Register. “President Biden should do the same.”

World Health Organization leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus implored countries that have vaccinated more than 40 percent of their population to not provide booster shots.

“No more boosters should be administered, except to immunocompromised people,” he said. “Most countries with high vaccine coverage continue to ignore our call for a moratorium on boosters, at the expense of health and vulnerable people in low-income countries who are waiting for the first dose.”

Tedros also asked vaccine manufacturers to prioritize equitable distribution of vaccines “over shareholder profit” as coronavirus cases and related deaths continue to climb.

“Last week, 56 countries, from all regions, reported an increase in deaths from covid-19 of more than 10 percent,” he said, adding that countries have reported struggling intensive care units and lack of supplies. “Let me be very clear: This should not be happening. We have all the tools to prevent covid-19 transmission and save lives, and we continue to call on all countries to use those tools.”

Tedros’s statements come just a day after the WHO cleared the India-developed vaccine Covaxin for emergency use, a move the global agency saw as step toward more equitable vaccine distribution.

The agency encouraged all vaccine manufacturers that have not received emergency use listing to contact the WHO about accelerating the process.

“We continue to hear excuses about why low-income countries have only received 0.4 percent of the world’s vaccines. One is that these countries can’t absorb vaccines,” he said. “That’s not true. With the exception of a few fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable countries, most are ready to go. The problem is simply that they cannot get the vaccines.”

He also stressed that many low-income countries are relying on the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access program, or COVAX, to receive vaccines.

The WHO announced Thursday that it developed a tool called the intra-action review, which countries can use to evaluate what’s working and what’s not.

Several countries that have participated in the tool have shown key takeaways, such as the need for strong national leadership and the need for adequate cold chain capacity and real-time monitoring of vaccine stock for vaccine rollouts.

“Ending the pandemic as rapidly as possible must remain the central focus for every country,” Tedros said. “At the same time, we owe it to those who have lost their lives to this virus to learn the lessons it is teaching us, and take whatever action is necessary to prevent a future disaster on this scale.”

Buoyed by promising new economic data showing jobless claims falling to the lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic began, President Biden called on American businesses to implement vaccine mandates ahead of a federal deadline, framing the policy as a path to end the pandemic and secure the economic recovery.

Jobless claims dropped by 14,000 to 269,000 last week, according to Labor Department data released Thursday, showing that weekly applications for unemployment benefits continue to gradually decrease, establishing a new low not seen since March of last year. The four-week average, which helps smooth out weekly extremes, also fell to its lowest level since the start of the public health crisis.

Biden seized on the optimistic figures, describing the data as further evidence of his administration’s progress. “As COVID-19 cases and unemployment claims continue to decline — and as jobs and wages continue to rise — it is clear that America is in the midst of an historic economic recovery, unique across the world,” he said in a statement Thursday.

The president also tied falling unemployment claims to the renewed urgency for companies to institute vaccine requirements for staff. Businesses that employ 100 or more workers will have until Jan. 4 to have all staff either fully vaccinated or to conduct regular testing, according to a new federal rule that will be released Friday by the Biden administration, senior government officials said.

The president noted that vaccination mandates are backed by broad public support, pushing back against critics who predicted that such requirements would lead to mass firings and worker shortages. “As we’ve seen with businesses — large and small — across all sectors of our economy, the overwhelming majority of Americans choose to get vaccinated,” he said.

“For our country, the choice is simple: Get more people vaccinated, or prolong this pandemic and its impact on our country,” he said. “The virus will not go away by itself, or because we wish it away: we have to act. Vaccination is the single best pathway out of this pandemic.”