The FDA and CDC announced Tuesday that they are calling for an immediate pause on the use of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine “out of an abundance of caution” after discovering six cases in the United States of a rare and severe type of blood clot. The CDC convened a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) Wednesday to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. The FDA and CDC will continue recommending a pause in the use of the vaccine until a thorough analysis and review are completed.
President Biden said Tuesday the decision to pause the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will not impact the country's vaccine supply. White House COVID-19 response coordinator, Jeff Zients, reiterated the President’s message, saying “This announcement will not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan: Johnson & Johnson vaccine[s] makes up less than 5 percent of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading infectious diseases expert, said the decision to pause the vaccine’s distribution may reduce vaccine hesitancy at a time when about one in five Americans still say they will not get a vaccine: “One of the most important reasons why people have hesitancy is they're concerned about the safety. The very fact that you have an organization, two organizations, the CDC and the FDA, looking so carefully at this, making safety the primary concern, in my mind, confirms or underscores the situation that we take safety very seriously.”
On Monday, President Joe Biden met with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to discuss his $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan, an early test of political support for the proposal. President Biden said the size and scope of his American Jobs Plan — as well as how to pay for it — is up for negotiation, setting the stage for what is likely to be months of congressional debate. Republicans are urging President Biden to negotiate with them on a scaled-back version of his plan, focusing on traditional infrastructure items like roads and bridges, rather than the administration’s more expansive proposal. “There is bipartisan appetite for smart infrastructure bills that are built the right way,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on the floor Tuesday, suggesting only a fraction of Biden’s plan is for traditional infrastructure.
Capitol Hill. On April 14, House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Chairman James Clyburn (D-SC) issued a statement regarding a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report detailing efforts by the federal government to increase the availability of coronavirus vaccines. According to the GAO, stakeholders “identified multiple challenges with initial implementation of COVID-19 vaccination.” For example, GAO notes that during the early vaccine rollout in December 2020, “state, territorial, and local health officials and health care providers lacked information on vaccine shipments, such as on the number of doses they would receive and when they would arrive, which is critical to planning for and administering vaccinations.” The GAO highlights key steps the Biden Administration has taken to help improve vaccine distribution and also notes the Administration’s increased vaccine availability, notably at the end of February.
On April 9, 19 Senate Republicans and 55 House Republicans signed onto an amicus brief, filed by the American Center for Law and Justice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, in support of Ohio’s lawsuit in Ohio v. Yellen, a lawsuit charging that the recently-enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) unlawfully restricts the states’ ability to reduce taxes.
On Thursday, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis held a hearing with CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, and Chief Science Officer for COVID Response David Kessler on “Reaching the Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Science-Driven Approach to Swiftly and Safely Ending the Pandemic”. The hearing examined the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, including the Biden Administration’s progress in accelerating vaccine distribution, enhancing equal access to vaccines, and combating vaccine hesitancy. It also explored the continuing importance of adhering to public health measures like masks and distancing to save lives and slow the spread of dangerous virus variants in the weeks and months before all can be fully vaccinated.
On Thursday the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband held a hearing on “Shot of Truth: Communicating Trusted Vaccine Information.” The hearing examined the ways in which the media is disseminating vaccine safety and COVID-health related information to encourage Americans, particularly those in rural areas and in communities of color, to get vaccinated.
Treasury and IRS announced they are disbursing nearly 2 million payments in the fifth batch of Economic Impact Payments from the American Rescue Plan, bringing the total disbursed so far to approximately 159 million payments, with a total value of more than $376 billion, since the payments began rolling out as announced on March 12. Treasury also announced the establishment of the Office of Recovery Programs to lead the Department’s implementation of economic relief and recovery programs.
The FCC adopted a Report and Order on Reconsideration to establish Round 2 of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, a $249 million federal initiative to provide telecom and information services, and connected devices necessary to enable telehealth use during the pandemic. FCC also published its final rule for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, providing funding to low-income households for broadband services and connected devices during the pandemic.
HUD announced the allocation of nearly $5 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to help communities create affordable housing and services for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. The supplemental funding is allocated through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program to 651 grantees, including states, insular areas, and local governments.
FEMA began processing applications for funeral assistance on April 12, providing financial assistance for COVID-19-related funeral expenses incurred after Jan. 20, 2020. Applicants may apply by calling 844-684-6333 (TTY: 800-462-7585) from 9am to 9pm EDT, Monday through Friday.
HHS is hosting two information and feedback sessions for the new Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP). The sessions will be on April 20 and April 22 from 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET. The purpose of these sessions is to provide critical information about LIHWAP requirements and to gain a better understanding of LIHWAP grantees’ anticipated technical assistance needs.
- The April 20 session is intended for all state, territory, and tribal LIHWAP grantees, federal partners, and other critical stakeholders.
- The April 21 session is intended for tribal LIHEAP grantees only.
HHS published resources to help states, vaccination providers, and others improve access to vaccines for people with disabilities and older adults. These resources clarify legal requirements, illustrate some of the barriers to vaccine access faced by people with disabilities and older people, and provide strategies – and examples of how the aging and disability network can help employ them – to ensure accessibility.
|
Multiple tenant rights groups are calling on the Biden Administration to take action against landlords seeking to evict tens of thousands of renters from their homes despite the nationwide eviction freeze. The groups say DOJ has yet to file a criminal charge for violations of the CDC eviction moratorium.
A coalition of over 200 industry groups, civil rights, and economists are calling on Congress and the Biden Administration to pass legislation investing in a family-friendly care infrastructure that “works for the millions of people who need care and support, those who have had to leave the workforce to become unpaid caregivers, and for the paid caregivers, who have been historically undervalued.”
Delta Air Lines is the last U.S. airline with a ban on passengers sitting in middle seats on flights, but the company plans to end the restriction of May 1. The CDC found in a recently released study that keeping the middle seat empty on flights could reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure by 23 percent to 57 percent depending on the seating occupancy model.
Vaccine News
Moderna announced its coronavirus vaccine was 90 percent effective six months after a person receives their second dose. The company noted, “Vaccine efficacy starting two weeks following the second dose and based on the updated adjudicated cases remains consistent with prior updates, including greater than 90% against all cases of COVID-19, and greater than 95% against severe cases of COVID-19.” Additionally, Modern is working on its second phase for testing in adolescents, aiming to fully enroll 6,750 healthy pediatric participants in the U.S. and Canada.
Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, said the company has ramped up its vaccine production to deliver doses more quickly following a pause in distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Bourla wrote that Pfizer is on pace to finish the order of 300 million doses it agreed to provide by the end of July two weeks early, adding it could provide 10 percent more than it originally agreed to by the end of May.
Dr. Fauci shared findings of similarities between clotting issues that have arisen in a small handful of patients who took the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and issues that arose in some patients that were administered AstraZeneca's vaccine. The issue appeared similar to a clotting issue that caused European regulators to pause distribution of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, though that pause has ended in some countries as they face a resurgence of new COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Fauci believes the government’s decision to recommend a halt in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine could actually diminish vaccine hesitancy amid some concerns that the pause could deter people from getting shots sharing that the move from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could underscore how seriously federal agencies are taking vaccine safety.
|
|
Webinars, Events and Resources |
Monitoring the Spread of COVID-19 Through Environmental Scanning
NACo and Biobot Analytics
April 20, 1:00 PM ET
Coordinating Federal Relief: Assessing Community Needs
NLC
April 21, 2:00 PM ET
Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine in Disparately Impacted Communities
NLC
April 29, 1:00 PM ET
CRS Reports of interest:
|
|
