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President Joe Biden has ordered intelligence officials to investigate the origins of the coronavirus as circumstantial evidence that it came from a laboratory in China grows. Rich Mendez has the details. Moderna is looking to expand vaccine use to kids as young as 12 and the CDC is working on updating its summer camp guidance. Bertha Coombs reports on the vaccine sweepstakes.
| | Biden orders investigation into virus origins | Biden announced this week that he's ordered a formal review of what he said were two equally plausible scenarios of the origins of the coronavirus. The intelligence community has 90 days to provide a report on whether Covid originated in an animal or in a lab. "The majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other," Biden said. White House officials say that China has not been "completely transparent" in the global investigation into the source of the virus, and that a full investigation is needed.
-Rich Mendez | | | | Moderna looks to expand vaccine down to age 12 | With final data from its 3,500-participant clinical trial, Moderna says its vaccine is 93% to 100% effective in preventing Covid-19 in kids age 12 to 17, depending how you measure (93% was after one dose, 100% after two). It plans to ask the FDA in early June to expand its Emergency Use Authorization for that age group, which would add a second vaccine for U.S. teens, after Pfizer's. Both companies are running trials in younger kids, with Pfizer expecting data and potentially regulatory submission for kids as young as age 2 by September. They're testing lower doses, though, so the trials are more complicated than those for teens.
-Meg Tirrell | | | | CDC to update Covid summer camp guidance | The CDC is revising its public health guidance for summer camps to account for vaccinated teens, Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told House lawmakers this week. The current guidance doesn't recommend fully vaccinated kids go without masks. Mask exceptions for all campers include certain activities like eating, drinking or swimming. Even before adolescents could get the shots, the agency was criticized on the guidance by some public health experts and parents who said the risk of spreading Covid is low in outdoor settings and kids have a lower risk of severe illness.
-Berkeley Lovelace Jr. | | | | Now, the vaccine sweepstakes goes national | As the nation's vaccination rate has plummeted in May, all eyes have been on the Buckeye state. Ohio's Vax-A-Million lottery has helped boost vaccination rates there – doubling in some counties. Now, CVS Health reached out to travel firms and other retailers to put together a national sweepstakes, heavy on big travel prizes like a VIP trip to the Superbowl and NCAA Final Four next year, to reward those who have gotten the jab or do so by July 10. There are those that argue we should not reward vaccine resistance, but with vaccination rates flagging it seems greed may be a bigger motivator than fear.
-Bertha Coombs | | | | UK approves J&J Covid vaccine for use | The U.K.'s medicines regulator on Friday approved Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Covid-19 vaccine for use. The vaccine is the fourth to be authorized for use in the U.K., joining the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna alternatives in being approved by Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. U.K. Health Minister Matt Hancock said approval of the vaccine will boost the country's "hugely successful" vaccination program.
-Chloe Taylor | |
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