Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told “Meet the Press” he expects another surge of infections within the next few months. Osterholm cited new variants, such as those first detected in Britain and South Africa, that appear to spread more easily than the original virus.
“The hurricane is coming. Because of this surge, we have to call an audible,” he said.
The vaccines now in use, from Moderna and Pfizer, require two doses spaced out over a few weeks. One dose, however, does provide some protection. And Osterholm said data indicates that the longer people wait until the second dose “the better you may do.”
“We still want to get two doses in everyone, but I think right now, in advance of this surge, we need to get as many one-doses in as many people over 65 as we possibly can,” Osterholm said, saying such a focus could “reduce serious illness and death that is going to occur over the weeks ahead.”
In the headlines:
►Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday that vaccine distribution has been “seamless” under the Biden administration. “President Biden and his team is working to assure that partnership and not tear it apart, which I’m very grateful for,” Hutchinson told ABC News’ “This Week.”
►The Vatican has unveiled new COVID protocols for distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday on Feb. 17. Priests, instead of reciting a specific blessing and making a cross on each parishioner’s forehead, will stand at arms length and sprinkle the ashes on each recipient’s head “without touching them or speaking any words.”
►One of the nation’s largest vaccination sites temporarily shut down Saturday when dozens of protesters blocked the entrance to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, stalling hundreds of motorists who had been waiting in line.
►A second U.S. state reported a case of the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan confirmed a case of the B.1.351 variant in his state Saturday. South Carolina reported at least two cases of the variant earlier this week.
►Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said she requested to move her Washington office away from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying the Georgia Republican “berated” her in the Capitol earlier this month over a mask altercation.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has more than 26.1 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 441,300 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 102.9 million cases and 2.22 million deaths. About 49.2 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. and 29.6 million have been administered, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re reading: Applications to medical school for this coming fall are up 18%, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. And many school officials specifically note the number of applicants from traditionally underrepresented Americans is helping to drive the surge.
People arrive for COVID-19 vaccination at a drive through setup at Coors Field baseball stadium on January 30, 2021, in Denver, Colorado.
John Bernard receives his first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from registered nurse Adrienne Bond during a vaccine clinic at the Vanderburgh County Health Department in Evansville, Ind., Jan. 26, 2021. He brought his 101-year-old mother, Evelyn Bernard, to the clinic too so they could both get vaccinated.
The line of those with appointments for the Kitsap Public Health District and the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management’s first community COVID-19 vaccine clinic stretches down the sidewalk at the former St. Michael Medical Center in East Bremerton, Wash. on Jan. 26, 2021.
Palm Desert resident Luther Wood, 82, celebrates his Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination at Eisenhower Health’s clinic for patients age 75 and older on Jan. 26 in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Security guard Andrea Rapini sits at a COVID-19 vaccination site that closed after running out of the vaccine in John Prince Park in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., on Jan. 27. Gov. Ron DeSantis turned vaccine distribution over to Publix pharmacies in the area.
Workers from Sparrow Healthcare talk to a woman Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, as she approaches a checkpoint at the Sparrow Laboratories Drive-Thru Services site at Frandor Shopping Center in Lansing. It is Sparrow’s first day of public vaccinations for those 70 and older, and for frontline essential workers.
Jack Horneman of Townville gets his COVID-19 vaccine from Missy Cooley, LPN, during the AnMed Health Covid-19 Vaccine clinic at the Anderson Civic Center Saturday, January 16, 2021.
Revonda Wood, RN, pulls a dose from a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vial at the AnMed Health Covid-19 Vaccine clinic at the Anderson Civic Center Saturday, January 16, 2021.
Century Village residents wait before appointments are handed out for the COVID-19 vaccine in West Palm Beach, Florida on Jan. 11, 2021. The community will receive 3,000 doses to use starting on Wednesday.
Karen MacDonald, a nurse at Gates Middle School in Scituate, Mass. lays out her syringes while getting ready to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to first responders on Jan. 11, 2021.
Gabriel Fernandez, a registered nurse from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, injects a COVID-19 vaccine into the arm of an Emergence Health Network client with developmental disabilities at the EHN DayHab center in East El Paso on Jan. 7, 2021.
A line of Duval County residents snakes around the campus of the Mandarin Senior Center on Hartley Road on Jan. 11, 2021, as people wait for COVID-19 vaccine injections at one of the two City of Jacksonville vaccine sites which opened Monday.
Medical professionals from Oregon Health & Science University load syringes with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-thru vaccination clinic in Portland, Ore., Jan. 10, 2021. The clinic is a partnership between the Service Employees International Union and Oregon Health & Science University, aiming to vaccinate Oregon’s 32,000 home health care workers and their patients.
James Hill, 69, who served separate stints in both the Army and Navy, left, holds his sleeve as Brent Myers, a CVS pharmacist, readies to administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination, at the Mississippi State Veterans Home in Jackson, Miss., Jan. 9, 2021. Hill was among the first residents to receive the Pfizer covid vaccination. Residents and staff at two of the four veterans homes were inoculated on Saturday with the vaccinations planned for the two other homes next week. The veterans homes were among the hardest hit senior living facilities by the virus.
Patient care technician Carolyn Nesby, 62, holds still as medical assistance care coordinator Beatriz Pantoja administers the Moderna coronavirus vaccine at Rosewood Zaragosa Health Center in East Austin on Jan. 8, 2021.
Nurses have COVID-19 vaccines drawn and ready to administer as people pull into a bay at the former State Farm building in Murfreesboro, Tenn. to receive their first dose on Jan. 4, 2021.
A health-care worker reacts as she receives the COVID-19 vaccine at Lake-Sumter State College in Leesburg, Fla., on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021. Long lines of cars were at the site as the Lake County vaccines are currently being given to people who are 65 years and older and front line workers.
Winona McCain, 71, a resident at Patewood Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Greenville, S.C., raises her fist after receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Jamie, a pharmacist with CVS on Dec. 28, 2020.
Friends Terri Kado,66, right and Patty Tubbs,68, from Fort Myers Beach wait in line for the the COVID-19 vaccine in the early morning hours of Dec. 30, 2020 at Lakes Park Regional Library in Fort Myers, Fla. The two were having a pleasant experience and were watching the moon as it moved through the sky. To them the vaccine brings a peace of mind and a positive start to the New Year. They got in line at 12:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
CHEMED nurse and vaccine coordinator Tzipporah Zar shows a sticker patients get after they get their first shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Center for Health Education, Medicine and Dentistry in Lakewood, N.J., on Dec. 28, 2020.
Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District personnel administer COVID-19 vaccinations to colleagues during a test drive-thru event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Corpus Christi, Texas on Dec. 23, 2020.
Jessica Miles, left, of CVS, gives resident Wanda Kilgore a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at Linley Park Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Anderson, S.C., Dec. 29, 2020. The first dose of the vaccine was administered to 51 residents and 32 staff, with the second dose planned for Jan. 26, 2021.
Pharmacists prepare doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Life Care Center of Kirkland on Dec. 28, 2020 in Kirkland, Wash. The Life Care Center of Kirkland, a nursing home, was an early epicenter for coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S.
Henry Jackson, an employee of Lee Health in the transportation services department is one of the first front-line workers for Lee Health to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was administered at Lee Health Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, Fla. on Dec. 22, 2020.
Chief Nursing Officer Robin L. Steaban, left, who administered the vaccine, stands with nurse practitioner Lisa Flemmons, Dr. Todd Rice, nurse Cody Hamilton and respiratory therapist Sophie Whitaker after they received a COVID-19 vaccine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 17, 2020.
The CVS Health team arrives with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Sivercrest Health and Rehabilitation Center in Crestview, Fla. on Dec. 21, 2020. This was one of the first administrations of the vaccine in the state.
Nurse practitioner Franklin Grauzer receives a high-five from his daughter, Emerson, 5, after he received a COVID-19 vaccine at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 17, 2020.
VA pharmacist Wes Romanello carefully fills syringes of the COVID-19 vaccine to give to Chillicothe VA staff in Chillicothe, Ohio on Dec. 23, 2020.
VA nurse Sarah Hembre, left, gives Ed Tassy, a veteran who served two tours of duty in Iraq and now works at the VA as a physician assistant, the first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine delivered to the VA on Dec. 23, 2020. The VA received 1,000 doses to give to VA personnel and patients.
Dr. Theresa Maresca from the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB), lets a collegue write on her arm For the Love of Native People over the spot where she received a shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, at the SIHB, on Dec. 21, 2020 in Seattle, Wash. The Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) received 500 doses of the FDA-approved Moderna COVID-19 vaccine today.
A member of FDNY EMS gives a thumbs up while receiving the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine on Dec. 23, 2020 in New York City. Members of FDNY EMS were given doses of the Moderna coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine allotted for the department.
Dr. Cletus Oppong, who specializes in occupational medicine, is the first to receive the first round of the Moderna vaccine by Clinical Pharmacist Erin Conkright on Dec. 24, 2020, at the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital in Owensboro, Ky. “It’s an exciting day,” said Oppong.
Command Sgt. Maj. John Raines of the Mississippi National Guard, looks away as he receives a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in his arm, by a fellow guard member, Dec. 23, 2020, in Flowood, Miss. One hundred doses of the vaccine were administered to both Mississippi Air and Army National Guard service members who serve as first responders and currently assist with the administering of the COVID-19 test at Mississippi Department of Health drive through community testing sites across the state.
Tim King, a citizen of the Cherokee nation and a Cherokee language speaker, receives ther COVID-19 vaccine at the Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center Dec. 17, 2020, in Tahlequah, Okla. On his left arm is a tattoo of a dreamcatcher with the word Cherokee.
Long-term care patient Carlos Alegre receives the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from licensed vocational nurse Virgie Vivar at Birch Patrick Skilled Nursing Facility at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center on Dec. 21, 2020 in Chula Vista, Calif. 72-year-old Alegre is the first patient to receive the vaccine in San Diego County. Long-term care patients and frontline workers are among those in the CDCÕs highest priority group for vaccination.
Hartford HealthCare employee Wilfredo Rivera reacts after receiving the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19 as Hartford HealthCare Nurse Laura Bailey, right, looks on at Hartford Hospital, Dec. 21, 2020, in Hartford, Conn. Hartford HealthCare was the first in the state to administer the Moderna vaccine.
Lerma Ballesteros, left, a technical laboratory assistant with Diagnostic Laboratory Services, remains rock steady even as she is administered a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination during a temporary clinic conducted by Department of Public Health and Social Services workers and other support staff at the Okkodo High School cafeteria in Dededo on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020.
Marie Branham, right, resident services director at Atria Springdale assisted living community, receives the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine from CVS pharmacist Shereen Keshta at the facility in Louisville, Ky. on Dec. 21, 2020.
Rochester General Hospital received the new Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and started vaccinating some of their high-risk healthcare workers on December 15, 2020. Nancy Nicoletta, assistant director of pharmacy, brings up a bag of the vaccine. The vaccine has to be kept at a very cold temperature.
Boxes containing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the McKesson distribution center in Olive Branch, Miss. on Dec. 20, 2020. While shipments of the vaccine are rolling out to many health care workers and nursing homes across the country, it could be months before itÕs available for the general public.
Dr. Julie Kennerly-Shah draws out a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as its distributed to healthcare workers on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020 at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center East in Columbus, Ohio. Vaccine shipments began arriving in Ohio on Monday and frontline health care workers have been the first to receive the vaccine.
RN Gisela Bunch administers the vaccine for COVID-19 to CVI outreach coordinator Lynde Sain at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital in Germantown, Tenn., on Dec. 17, 2020.
Allison Wynes, a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) nurse practitioner, records a video for her friends announcing she had received one of first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the hospital, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, on the 12th floor of the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa.
Sandra Lindsay, left, a nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, is inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by Dr. Michelle Chester, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in New York.
Courtney Schneider, 40, of Grand Rapids and her son, Elliot Schneider, 8, of Grand Rapids wave flags at the FedEx plane carrying the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Dec. 13, 2020.
Susan Deur of Plainwell, center, and Nancy Galloway of Plainwell, applaud and cheer as they watch the trucks carrying COVID-19 vaccine leave at Pfizer Global Supply in Portage, Mich., Dec. 13, 2020.
Boxes containing the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine are prepared to be shipped at the Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Dece. 13, 2020.
47/47 SLIDES
Triumph of science over COVID waylaid by confusion, frustration
In late December, the idea that safe, effective vaccines against COVID-19 had been created in less than a year seemed miraculous. Pride in the remarkable feat, however, has been replaced by confusion, unfairness, frustrating waits and the nightmare of vaccine vials gathering dust while tens of thousands of people continue to die of what is now a preventable disease. Even people leading the effort are at a loss to explain what happened.
“I would love to understand it,” said Moncef Slaoui, head of the vaccine development effort under the Trump administration and now an adviser to the Biden administration. “What makes me sad is … the thousands of people that have worked day and night over the last many, many months really feel terrible, feel depressed, because the whole thing is now positioned as a disaster.” Read more here.
– Karen Weintraub and Elizabeth Weise
Not all COVID patients get back senses of taste and smell
Millions of people worldwide have suffered changes to their sense of smell or taste after contracting COVID-19. In most cases, the symptoms usually only last a few weeks. But a year into the pandemic, researchers still aren’t sure when some COVID-19 survivors may get their senses back – if ever – and many are struggling with the long-term safety, hygiene and psychiatric implications of the loss. In the coming year, there will be at least 1 million new cases of people in the U.S. with chronically diminished senses of smell or taste because of COVID-19, said Dr. Jay Piccirillo, an ear, nose and throat specialist and professor at the Washington University School of Medicine who studies the topic.
“We’ve gotten a better idea about the long-term, chronic effects of COVID on smell and taste,” he said. “The things we’ve learned suggest that most people recover smell and taste, but not all.”
US pauses plan to give virus vaccine to Guantanamo prisoners
The U.S. is backing off for now on a plan to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to the 40 prisoners held at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said in a tweet Saturday that the Defense Department would be “pausing” the plan to give the vaccination to those held at Guantanamo while it reviews measures to protect troops who work there. Kirby said no prisoners had yet received the vaccination. The plan drew some criticism after The New York Times reported that the vaccination of prisoners would start in the coming days.
“We’re pausing the plan to move forward, as we review force protection protocols,” Kirby said. “We remain committed to our obligations to keep our troops safe.”
NYC neighborhood struggles to vaccinate Latino residents
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says a vaccine site in Washington Heights administered shots to mostly white people who came from outside the predominantly Latino neighborhood.
“Somehow instead of focusing on the Latino community of Washington Heights, a place that really was hit hard by COVID, instead the approach was somehow conducive to folks from outside of the community coming and getting vaccinated, but not folks who live right there in Washington Heights – totally backward,” the mayor said in a press conference, according to a transcript.
A man wears a double mask as he visits Times Square in New York on Dec. 10, 2020.
In this file photo, then-Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden wears two face masks as he arrives at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oct. 13, 2020.
In thus file photo then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris wears two protective masks while departing the Senate Floor at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 11, 2020 in Washington, DC.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki removes her two masks as she holds the first press briefing of Joe Biden’s presidency on Jan. 20, 2021, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. on the day of his inauguration.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wears two protective masks during a White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on Nov. 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots wears two protective masks as he watches the action during the first quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on Dec. 10, 2020 in Inglewood, Calif.
A man wears a double mask as he visits Times Square in New York on Dec. 10, 2020.
Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg removes his two protective face masks to speak during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, Jan. 21, 2021, in Washington.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) wears two protective masks while questioning Alejandro Mayorkas, nominee to be Secretary of Homeland Security, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 19, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Robin Shapiro helps Michael Stone adjust his two masks before a volunteer event with Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly on Nov. 3, 2020, in Scottsdale, Ariz.