January 15 coronavirus news

Pfizer said shipments from its vaccine facility in Puurs, Belgium, will be temporarily reduced as it scales up to produce two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021. 

The company said that in order to increase capacity to reach two billion, changes are needed to the process and facility, and additional regulatory approvals will be required. 

There will be fluctuations in orders and shipping scheduled from Pfizer’s facility in Puurs, Belgium, in late January and early February. The facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which supplies the United States, will not be impacted. 

On Tuesday Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he was confident the company would be able to produce two billion doses in 2021, but noted the manufacturing challenges.

"You know, it's almost equally difficult to scale up manufacturing at that level so fast as it was to develop the vaccine and both teams can to rise to the occasion," Bourla said. 

The company also said previously that because each vial can yield six doses rather than the expected five, it provides an additional 20% capacity. 

The incoming Biden administration plans to retire the name for the coronavirus vaccine effort under President Trump – Operation Warp Speed – with a transition official for the incoming president telling CNN they are "moving to a new phase" of the coronavirus response.

"Operation Warp Speed was the Trump administration’s name for their response. We are structuring it differently and ours will have a new name," said an official, who added that many of the "people who are working for Warp Speed who were critical to that operation will be critical to our response, too."

Newly-appointed Dr. David Kessler will be part of that response, working as the chief scientific officer of the Covid-19 response out of the US Department of Health and Human Services under secretary-designee Xavier Becerra, the official said. His role will focus primarily on maximizing the supply of vaccines that are authorized or approved, and getting other vaccines online.

The process of getting shots in arms will be run out of the White House and the team led by Jeff Zients, the official said.

Gen. Gustave Perna, who is currently the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, will stay on in the Biden administration, the official said, but under its "new structure."

Germany's Health Ministry said the country's federal and state governments ''noted with regret'' the ''very short notice and unexpected announcement by the [European] Commission and Pfizer'' to limit coronavirus vaccine deliveries temporarily due to modifications at the Puurs Pfizer plant in Belgium. 

He made the comments in a statement issued Friday, saying,

The German federal and state governments expect the EU Commission to provide clarity and certainty for further deliveries and delivery dates as quickly as possible in the negotiations with Pfizer.

In any case, it has been promised that the quantities announced for the first quarter will be delivered in full in the first quarter,” the statement concluded. 

Nations across the EU are beginning to respond to the changes.

Norway’s Director of Infection Prevention and Control at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Geir Bukholm, said in a statement: "For Norway, this means that in week 3 we will receive 7,800 fewer doses than Pfizer had previously reported." 

"We were notified just before 10 a.m. [local] today. We were predicted to receive 43,875 vaccine doses from Pfizer in week 3. Now it looks like we will receive 36,075 doses. We have not yet sent out what we have kept in readiness for such cases and are now able to compensate for this reduction in deliveries with the emergency stockpile we have in Norway. Our current stockpile will be able to compensate for a reduction in the planned deliveries for a few weeks ahead, should the need arise," Bukholm added.

Denmark's Statens Serum Institute also said that they have been told they will receive fewer vaccines.

"The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has today announced that it will deliver fewer covid-19 vaccines to Europe than planned in the coming weeks. It will also affect Pfizer's deliveries to Denmark. How much, however, is not yet known," the statement said. Denmark should have received 59,475 doses of covid-19 vaccine in week 3, it added.

The Institute said it was notified on Friday morning that the change is due to a restructuring in production with a view to increasing capacity in the long term. Pfizer has indicated that they expect to have delivered the promised number of doses by the end of March 2021, the Danish statement said. 

"We are in ongoing dialogue with Pfizer about what it will actually mean for deliveries to Denmark, but we expect that this will mean that in the coming time we can vaccinate fewer than first assumed," director of Statens Serum Henrik Ullum Institute said.

New York City added 4,650 confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 and reported an 8.7% positivity rate on a seven-day average, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.

The city also added 286 new hospitalizations, the mayor tweeted

Remember: Positivity rate is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested. So, as more and more people are being tested, the focus is shifting to the positivity rate —how many of those tested are actually infected.

Despite hopes of widespread vaccinations this year, experts warned the start of 2021 would be a very rough time in this pandemic.

It turns out the first two weeks have been abysmal: The US has shattered hospitalization, death and daily case records.

Why is this happening? People are letting their guard down due to pandemic fatigue. And many of those who are sick of taking precautions are getting sick.

Now that the weather is colder, more people are socializing indoors. And the coronavirus primarily spreads during close contact with others through respiratory droplets — produced when someone talks, coughs, sings or even breathes.

Socializing indoors with anyone outside your bubble – even just one friend – is risky. Gathering with multiple friends indoors can be dangerous.

"If you go to a party with five or more people, almost certainly there's going to be somebody with Covid-19 at that party," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

One reason why the coronavirus spreads so easily is because people can be contagious without knowing they're infected – and can pass along the virus without looking or feeling sick.

The CDC estimates more than 50% of all infections are transmitted from people who aren't showing symptoms.

And just like doctors predicted, holiday travel and gatherings have triggered new waves of infections, hospitalizations and deaths across the country.

Fallout from the holidays could still ripple across the United States for weeks to come.

The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) landed in the Amazonian city of Manaus at 2:10 a.m. (3:10 a.m. ET) Friday, carrying six cylinders of liquid oxygen, totaling 9,300 kg of charge.

The air force also flew out nine patients and five doctors from Manaus to Teresina.

This comes after the Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello warned Thursday that the healthcare system in Manaus is in "collapse" as Covid-19 cases surge.

He said there was a low supply of oxygen and large lines to get into hospitals.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Friday morning that "it's quite feasible" the United States can achieve President-elect Joe Biden's goal to distribute 100 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine in his first 100 days of office. Fauci is set to serve as Biden's chief medical adviser.

"You still optimistic that we can get 100 million doses in 100 days?" NBC's Craig Melvin asked Fauci during an interview on the "Today" Show.

"We've discussed it with the Biden team, and we think it's quite feasible that we can do that. Right now, even now, we've gone from half a million a day to 750,000 a day. I believe strongly that it's doable — and if we do it, stay on target to get the overwhelming majority of the country vaccinated," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"If we get about 70% to 85% of the people in the country vaccinated, we likely will get to that umbrella of herd immunity," Fauci said. "We can start approaching some form of normality, but it's really going to be dependent on the uptake of vaccines."

President-elect Joe Biden will deliver remarks today on his plans to distribute the Covid-19 vaccine once he takes office next week. He's set to speak at 3:45 p.m. ET in Wilmington, Delaware.

His remarks come a day after he outlined a $1.9 trillion emergency legislative package to fund a nationwide vaccination effort and provide direct economic relief to Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic, telling Americans that "the health of our nation is at stake."

Last month, Biden he laid out his three-point plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic, including his plans to distribute 100 million vaccine shots in his initial 100 days in office.

CNN reported last week that Biden will aim to release nearly every available dose of the coronavirus vaccine when he takes office, a break with the Trump administration's strategy of holding back half of US vaccine production to ensure second doses are available.

Releasing nearly all vaccine doses on hand could quickly ratchet up the availability of coronavirus vaccines by allowing more people access to a first dose.

It could also be a risky strategy as both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna's vaccines require two doses, administered at specific intervals, and vaccine manufacturing has not ramped up as rapidly as many experts had hoped.

The Department of Health and Human Services then announced sweeping changes Tuesday in vaccine rollout guidelines in an effort to boost the lagging number of vaccinations in the first month — effectively adopting the approach proposed by Biden's incoming administration.

It still remains unclear for how long someone who has recovered from Covid-19 might be protected from getting reinfected and whether they can still carry the virus and spread it to others, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Friday morning. 

He added: "We are doing studies to answer those kinds of questions."