April 21 coronavirus news

Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, has voted in favor of an amendment to the Infection Protection Act on Wednesday, which would allow the federal government to impose nationwide lockdown measures against Covid-19.

In a roll call vote, 342 voted for the bill, 250 opposed and 64 abstained, according to the parliament website.

If the bill passes the Parliament’s upper house on Thursday, the government will be empowered to enact an “emergency break” lockdown which would trigger nightly curfews in some areas with high infection rates from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time (CET) with the exception that people can be outside until midnight if they are out alone. The bill also calls for strict regulations of schools in regards to in-person and online learning.

Up until now, Germany’s 16 states held the balance of power to self-determine their own Covid-19 measures. But the federal government sought a more unified approach to battle continuing Covid-19 infections amid a slower-then-hoped for vaccination rollout. 

There has been widespread criticism in the lead-up to the vote with members of the public and the political opposition questioning if a coherent federal approach to the Covid-19 crisis was compatible with Germany’s constitution.

Hundreds have been protesting across Berlin Wednesday against allowing the federal government greater powers, live pictures showed. There were violent clashes with the police and 152 protestors have been arrested, according to Berlin police.

If the bill passes Germany's upper house, the amendment becomes law, and the changes could go into effect as early as Friday.

A senior administration official said Wednesday that the US Food and Drug Administration’s announcement indicates that the process “is working as it should.” The FDA said this morning that the Emergent facility inspection is complete and vaccine production remains on hold due to potential quality issues.  

Citing Pfizer and Moderna vaccine supply, the official said that Emergent’s continued closure will not impact the administration’s commitments to getting shots in arms.

“Our concern right now is not to try to rush anything, because we're just not affected. The President's commitments, obviously, the 200 million vaccinations wasn't dependent on this. His commitment that we will have enough vaccines for all the adults who want them by the end of May is not affected by this. And so we will just let that play itself out. But the American public has two highly effective, very safe vaccines,” the official said.

Most fully vaccinated residents of nursing homes were not infected, even after someone in the same facility tested positive for Covid-19, according to a new study that looked at infections in nursing homes in Chicago from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Among the nearly 8,000 residents and nearly 7,000 staff that have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine since December, there were only 22 breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated, according to the CDC’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report published on Wednesday. 

The CDC considers people to be fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two weeks after the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Of the 22 breakthrough cases, there were 12 residents and 10 staff members who tested positive for Covid-19 after being fully vaccinated. Two-thirds of those who tested positive, 14 people, were asymptomatic. Two residents were hospitalized and one of those residents died, the CDC said. The person who died had three underlying conditions, according to the CDC.

There was no facility-associated secondary transmission. 

Although they are rare, the CDC said breakthrough infections can happen because no Covid-19 vaccine provides 100% protection. While some earlier studies suggested that the vaccines provide total protection against severe illness and death, data on vaccination and transmission in congregate settings like nursing homes has been limited.

Some context: The CDC said that this study confirms how important it is for people to get vaccinated, particularly in congregate settings where it is difficult to keep physical distance.

The study also shows that nursing homes still need to follow recommended infection and control practices. Residents who get Covid-19 still need to be isolated from others and residents that have had close contact with them should be quarantined. Nursing homes should continue regular testing and staff should continue to wear PPE, regardless of vaccination status. 

An ensemble forecast published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now projects there will be 579,000 to 596,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by May 15.

“This week’s national ensemble predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths will remain stable or have an uncertain trend over the next 4 weeks," CDC said.

The previous ensemble forecast, published on April 14, projected up to 598,000 coronavirus deaths by May 8.

At least 568,532 people have already died from Covid-19 in the United States, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The US Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday that it recently completed an inspection of the Emergent BioSolutions facility in Baltimore – which makes the drug substance that goes into Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine. New production is still paused while FDA and Emergent work through several potential quality issues.

The FDA's inspection ended Tuesday and "cited a number of observations concerning whether the facility's processes met our requirements and standards," Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting FDA commissioner, and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a joint statement released on Wednesday.

They emphasized no products will be released before meeting the FDA’s quality standards.

The FDA report says Emergent has not thoroughly investigated cross-contamination of a viral vaccine drug substance batch, and the investigation did not include a thorough review of how people moved in and around the facility as a potential source of contamination. 

The report also says, based on security camera footage and direct observation, written procedures to prevent cross-contamination “are not followed” during production and not documented. Components and product containers were not handled or store in a way to prevent contamination, the report says; written procedures to assure drug substances are manufactured at the appropriate quality, strength and purity “are inadequate”; and employees weren’t adequately trained.

The building used to manufacture the vaccine drug substance wasn’t a suitable size or design to facilitate cleaning and proper operations, and equipment used “is not of adequate size” to operate as intended,” the report says.

Additionally, the FDA's inspection document notes peeling paint, unsealed bags of medical waste, residue on walls and damaged floors and rough surfaces that "do not allow for adequate cleaning and sanitization.” 

 In a statement, Emergent said it is “committed to working with the FDA and Johnson & Johnson to quickly resolve the issues identified.”

The pandemic devastated America's previously strong labor market, and that had a profound effect on American families.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 9.8% of families included an unemployed person last year. That was double the number from 2019, when 4.9% of families faced joblessness through at least one family member.

That means 8.1 million families included at least one unemployed person in 2020, but the economic hardship from the pandemic isn't spread evenly across the population.

"White families were the least likely to have an unemployed member, and Hispanic families were the most likely," the BLS said in its report.

Iraq has just topped 1 million Covid-19 cases for the first time after setting the highest single-day record with 8,696 new cases announced on Wednesday, according to the daily health ministry report. 

The ministry also recorded at least 38 Covid-19 related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the country’s total recorded death toll to 15,098.

There are currently 109,447 Covid-19 patients hospitalized across the county, with 517 cases in ICUs.

Iraq started its Covid-19 vaccine rollout on March 27, with 300,000 people having been vaccinated since — less than 1% of the nation’s total population of 40,150,000.

The country has signed contracts for 16 million more vaccine doses from four companies: Sinopharm, Pfizer/BioNtech, Sputnik V and AstraZeneca, according to the Iraqi health ministry. No dates on when those additional doses will be available have been announced.

The Iraqi government eased lockdown restrictions last month, saying the country faced serious economic challenges.

"We must rethink our approach in confronting coronavirus, without impacting people's livelihood and their economy," Iraqi government spokesperson Hassna Nadhim told reporters on March 16.

France will lift domestic travel restrictions on May 3, the French government spokesperson said Wednesday. 

Currently, people are allowed to go outside, but within a 10-kilometer radius from their homes and a nationwide 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. CET curfew is in place. 

Spokesperson Gabriel Attal said kindergarten and primary schools would reopen on April 26 as planned, and high schools would reopen on May 3. 

Attal lauded the vaccination rollout in France and said one in four adults had received a first dose of the vaccine. 

On Tuesday, the French health ministry reported at least 43,098 new cases in the last 24 hours, and recorded 375 deaths, bringing the country's total to 101,597. 

President Biden is expected to tout the US administering 200 million coronavirus vaccine shots since he took office, according to two administration officials.

He will deliver remarks on his Covid-19 response and the state of vaccinations at 1:15 p.m. ET today.

All Americans 16 years and older became eligible for the vaccine on Monday, meeting President Biden's earlier deadline for states to make all American adults eligible for the vaccine to April 19, after an original deadline of May 1.

Health officials — including Dr. Anthony Fauci — estimate that somewhere between 70% to 85% of the country needs to be immune to the virus — either through inoculation or previous infection — to suppress its spread.

So far, roughly 40.1% of the population has gotten at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 26% of the population is fully vaccinated, that data shows.