President Biden hosted a daylong Global COVID-19 Summit to set goals to combat the coronavirus pandemic. World leaders met marking the largest gathering of heads of state to address the pandemic, where President Biden cited the goal of vaccinating the world. The Biden Administration announced the worldwide donation of an additional 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccines and $370 million to aid in administering the shots. Vice President Kamala Harris followed up by announcing a donation of $250 million to start a new global fund to raise $10 billion to prevent future pandemics. The President’s remarks for bold action to combat the global crisis came amidst criticism of what some world leaders called the Administration’s unwillingness to share vaccines and help developing nations manufacture their own.
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot for people aged 65 and older and adults at risk of severe illness. This emergency use authorization applies only to the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and the agency said the booster should be administered six months after receiving the two-shot regimen. The FDA’s final authorization stands in line with the agency’s independent advisory committee, which struck a blow to the Biden Administration last Friday by rejecting the Administration’s hopes to distribute the booster shot to all Americans 16 and older beginning the week of September 20. Clearing the FDA is a major hurdle for the Pfizer booster shot but not the last step. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is meeting today to make a recommendation on the extra shot. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to quickly sign off on whatever the ACIP decides, making Pfizer vaccine boosters available beginning within the next day or two. Boosters for vaccinations from Johnson & Johnson and Moderna have yet to receive FDA and CDC clearance, and many believe that approval for both will come later this fall.
On a positive note, modelers predict that a surge in cases and deaths of COVID-19 has likely peaked and believe a decline in overall cases will occur through the spring of 2022. A group of modelers from the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub are projecting the forecast of the pandemic for the next six months. "I do think that the trajectory is towards improvement for most of the country," says Justin Lessler at the University of North Carolina, who helps run the hub. Models made by the group highlight a drop in cases from 140,000 to about 9,000 a day by March 2022 and cites deaths will drop from 1,500 a day to fewer than 100 a day. The model does note variations to the model, including the potential of a new infectious variant, and urges some hotspot areas may track differently than the overall model.
Capitol Hill
On September 23, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy held a hearing on “Lending in a Crisis: Reviewing the Federal Reserve’s Emergency Lending Powers During the Pandemic and Examining Proposals to Address Future Economic Crises”. The hearing explored various emergency Federal Reserve lending efforts during the pandemic, including the Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF), which purchased bonds directly from municipal issuers.
On September 22, the House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis held a hearing on “Recognizing and Building on the Success of Pandemic Relief Programs.” During the hearing, experts explored the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of pandemic relief programs, assessed the current economic situation, and recommended further steps for Congress to take “to ensure no one is left behind as America works to emerge from the pandemic and build a post-pandemic economy that is better for all.” The Subcommittee majority also released a staff analysis outlining evidence that the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) relief provisions “have alleviated economic hardship, reduced poverty, and supported economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic.”
On September 22, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), sent a letter to White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients calling on him to release an updated strategy to “more effectively leverage vaccines and end the pandemic.”
On September 21, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) launched an effort to develop bipartisan legislation to address barriers to mental health care as the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened alarming trends in Americans’ mental health. Responses to the effort from members of the behavioral health care community and other interested stakeholders are due by November 1, 2021, and should be emailed to [email protected].
On September 15, members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis were briefed on the status of the coronavirus vaccine landscape in the U.S. by Dr. Peter Marks, Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. According to Subcommittee Chair James Clyburn (D-SC), Director Marks shared the following during the briefing: (1) the FDA is evaluating compelling data suggesting booster shots may provide robust protection and help prevent continued spread of the virus; (2) FDA’s authorization of vaccines for children ages 5 to 11 could come soon; and (3) the Biden Administration did not pressure the FDA on a booster shot plan.
On September 15, House Oversight and Reform Committee Ranking Member James Comer (R-KY) sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines requesting all raw intelligence reports, meeting notes, and emails relied upon by the Intelligence Community (IC) when developing the recently released Assessment on COVID-19 Origins released on August 27, 2021. According to Comer, “The Biden Administration’s 90-day study was woefully inconclusive and failed to provide Americans a thorough response on the origins of the virus.”
Administration
Treasury released guidance for the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF) program established by ARPA. This $10 billion program allocates funds for eligible governments to carry out critical capital projects that directly enable work, education, and health monitoring, including remote options, in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The guidance describes how governments may access and use these funds. Treasury is hosting a September 30 webinar on the guidance; see the Webinar section below for a link to register.
Treasury also released a report on the first six months of the Department’s implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Treasury has disbursed approximately $700 billion of the $1 trillion available, including over $450 billion paid directly to families and households (Economic Impact Payments totaling over $400 billion, 106 million Child Tax Credit payments totaling more than $46 billion, and over 1 million payments of Emergency Rental Assistance totaling more than $5 billion). Treasury has also sent $240 billion in fiscal support to state, territorial, local, and Tribal governments; over 99% of currently available State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds have been disbursed. A Treasury press release is here.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report warning that millions of renters and their families may suffer previously avoided economic harms of the COVID-19 pandemic as federal and state relief programs end.
DOD awarded $647 million in contracts over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits.
The Administration announced a $2.1 billion investment to improve infection prevention and control activities across the U.S. public health and healthcare sectors. The funding is intended to strengthen and equip state, local, and territorial public health departments and other partner organizations with the resources needed to better fight infections in U.S. healthcare facilities, including COVID-19 and other known and emerging infectious diseases.
HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs announced it is opening a new application period for owners of multifamily properties participating in assisted housing programs to apply for more than $180 million in supplemental operating funds to support expenses for protecting residents and staff from COVID-19. Owners of properties participating in HUD’s Section 202 Housing for Low- and Very-Low Income Elderly, Section 811 Housing for Low- and Very-Low Income Persons with Disabilities, and Section 8 Project-based Rental Assistance programs are eligible to receive reimbursements from this pool of funds. The deadline for applications is November 19, 2021.
The National Institutes of Health awarded nearly $470 million to build a national study population of diverse research volunteers and support large-scale studies on the long-term effects of COVID-19.
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CVS Pharmacy announced it would be hiring 25,000 people during a one-day event in September to help with the expected increase in COVID-19 vaccine booster shots as well as annual flu shots. The announcement comes just days after the FDA panel voted in favor of recommending a third booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for those over the age of 65 and adults at risk of severe illness.
The Consumer Brands Association has asked the Biden Administration to clarify details on the new COVID-19 vaccine requirements. The letter includes a list of questions inquiring about how businesses will verify proof of vaccination, the consequences of falsifying vaccination status, and when the new rules will go into effect. The letter comes after the Biden Administration announced that all private employers with 100 or more employees must mandate vaccinations or weekly testing.
The National Association of Manufacturers, while in support of the mandate, also expressed concern about the cost of implementing the requirement. “It is important that undue compliance costs do not burden manufacturers, large and small alike,” stated President Jay Timmons.
United Airlines announced that 97 percent of its employees in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The deadline for vaccinations in the company is September 27, and United said a “small number” of employees are looking for exemptions to the policy. Employees who refuse to get vaccinated or do not receive an exemption will start to be fired on September 28.
Vaccine News
Pfizer and BioNTech said Monday that the companies’ two-dose COVID-19 vaccine was safe and showed a robust antibody response in children ages 5 to 11.
Johnson & Johnson announced that a booster shot of its COVID-19 vaccine that is given two months after the first shot strengthens protection against moderate illness and severe disease. The company said a late-stage clinical trial found that giving a second shot of the single-dose vaccine produced 75 percent protection against moderate and severe disease globally. That figure rose to 94 percent in the U.S.
A CDC study found the Moderna vaccine to be the most effective against COVID-19 hospitalization, although all three vaccines provided substantial protection. Researchers calculated Moderna’s vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization was 93 percent, while the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson vaccines was 88 percent and 71 percent, respectively.
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Webinars, Events and Resources |
Return to Work Amidst COVID-19
NACo Webinar
September 29, 2:00 pm ET
This webinar will discuss the challenges of having employees return to work and the responsibilities of county human resources professionals and administrators in the current environment. Discussion will include: Should employers mandating employee vaccinations pay for vaccines? If employers are requiring or encouraging employees to be vaccinated, what policies should they consider?
Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund: Application and Guidance
US Department of Treasury Webinar
September 30, 3:00 pm ET
Latest on the Delta Variant and Using ARP Funds to Respond
NACo Webinar
October 1, 3:00 pm ET
NACo will be joined by Dr. Deborah Birx, the former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, who will share an update on COVID-19 and best practices to lower community outbreaks.
CRS Reports of Interest:
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