Magnificent News: Coronavirus Updates: A 'month of action' for vaccines

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Important developments in the pandemic.

By Ben Guarino
with Lindsey Bever

The Post's coronavirus coverage linked in this newsletter is free to access from this email.

The latest

June must be a "national month of action" for Americans to get vaccines, President Biden said in remarks at the White House on Wednesday. The country is about 20 million people shy of his July goal to have 70 percent of adults get at least one shot of coronavirus vaccine. To encourage that, a blizzard of vaccine incentives are incoming: chances to win cruise tickets, video game consoles and flights, among other free goodies.

The White House is also launching community efforts to support vaccination, such as a campaign to enlist 1,000 Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons as vaccine clinics. The "Shots at the Shop" program will involve training by the University of Maryland's Center for Health Equity and $1,000 stipends from the SheaMoisture company.

Some U.S. parents are perplexed and worried about what precautions their children need to take this summer. Navigating the advice for going maskless can be fraught when unvaccinated kids are involved. As one parent of an at-risk child explained, his first reaction to relaxed masking recommendations was "to think about the mistrust we have for some people out there." Many have turned to pediatricians for their opinion in the absence of specific CDC guidance for unvaccinated kids.

Millions of vaccine doses will soon be on their way from the United States to Latin America and other regions, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken offered few additional details at his news conference in Costa Rica on Tuesday – he did not say which countries were first in line to get the vaccines or when the doses would arrive.

A new, more transmissible coronavirus variant is spreading in Vietnam. To slow transmission, the government will attempt to test all 9 million residents of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city. A two-week lockdown in Ho Chi Minh City began Monday. The variant spreading there has genetic sequences resembling two other variants, one first detected in the United Kingdom and the other in India.

Brazil will host the Copa América soccer tournament, the country's president insisted, despite high coronavirus cases and political protests. President Jair Bolsonaro told supporters on Tuesday the matter was "all decided" on his end. The soccer tournament was planned to be held in Colombia and Argentina, but unrest in Colombia and a severe outbreak in Argentina prompted organizers to look for a new host country.

Other important news

Subscriptions services became wildly popular during the pandemic, available for gourmet meals, chocolate deliveries and car washes.

To see punk band Teenage Bottlerocket perform in Florida, tickets cost $999.99 – but vaccinated concertgoers will be charged only $18.

Here's one man's story of trying to work his way back into Colombia's middle class, which shrank by 1.6 million people in the pandemic.

Guide to the pandemic

Track confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. and the spread around the world.

U.S. vaccine distribution and delivery, tracked by state.

Guides: Finding vaccine appointments | Vaccines | Variants | Masks

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Your questions, answered

"I usually get my flu vaccine in early October. I am already vaccinated against covid-19 — got both shots of Pfizer in February. I am worried about the need for a booster with the timing of my annual flu vaccine. Can they be taken at the same time? Will anything affect the effectiveness of either shot?" —Deborah in California

Great question, but it's important to note right at the start that although most health experts do believe we will need a coronavirus booster at some point, they do not know when. Some think it may be a while. So there may not be any conflicts with the influenza vaccine you plan to get this fall.

And because there is not a definitive timeline on when boosters will be necessary, federal health authorities have not provided clear recommendations on how those shots should be administered. However, they have said that the Food and Drug Administration-authorized coronavirus vaccines should not be given at the same time as any other vaccine, including annual flu shots. There should be at least a two-week cushion before and after the coronavirus vaccines.

That's not to say that taking both vaccines at the same time is dangerous or will make either shot ineffective; scientists simply do not have enough information to say either way. As they learn more, though, that recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could change.

Interestingly enough, there may come a day when coronavirus boosters and flu shots are combined into a single jab. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said earlier this year that the company is developing a flu vaccine using messenger RNA technology and plans to combine it with a coronavirus vaccine "so that you only have to get one boost" to protect against both the current coronavirus variant and flu strain. Researchers say it makes sense to create one vaccine that covers everything, but the development and approval of even a solo mRNA flu shot will take time.

Don't worry too much about juggling your upcoming flu shot with a potential coronavirus booster. Worst case scenario, you may need to space out the two shots. But when a booster is available, health officials will no doubt provide some guidelines on how the shot should be administered.