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In the week since our last newsletter, U.S. distribution of coronavirus vaccines has descended into turmoil. Now, millions of vaccines could expire before they reach people in need. |
The Trump administration predicted 20 million people would receive at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine by the end of 2020. The final figure was about four million. And only 365,294 people in nursing homes and long-term-care centers have been vaccinated, despite more than 2.5 million doses distributed for those facilities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. |
Critics say the U.S. government has mismanaged the rollout from top to bottom. Federal, state, and local officials blamed each other for botched logistics and funding shortfalls. |
State officials — struggling to handle outbreaks, mass testing campaigns, overflowing intensive care units and uncertain contact tracing — say they need more help from the federal government. And local governments are chafing at state restrictions. |
In New York City, only 110,000 people have received a vaccine dose — about a quarter of the total number received by the city. Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the state government — which has limited vaccinations to health care workers and those living and working at nursing homes — to allow older people and essential workers to receive the vaccine. |
Gov. Andrew Cuomo asserted that the problem was a local issue, and urging Mr. de Blasio and other local leaders to take “personal responsibility” for their performance. Mr. Cuomo also threatened to fine hospitals if they did not step up the vaccination rate. |
The $900 billion federal pandemic relief package will provide an additional $9 billion toward vaccination costs. But funds will arrive long after local health departments have started vaccinating residents. Slowdowns touch almost every part of the country. |
- In Puerto Rico, a shipment of vaccines did not arrive until the workers who would have administered them had left for the Christmas holiday.
- In Houston, the city health department’s phone system crashed on the first day of a free vaccination clinic, after receiving more than 250,000 calls.
- In Tennessee, older people lined up on a sidewalk, leaning on walkers and wrapping themselves in blankets while they waited for a county health department to open its free clinic. The clinic exhausted its supply of vaccine before 10 a.m.
- In Florida, vaccine rollout sites continue to be overwhelmed in some places, with people waiting for hours. Gov. Ron DeSantis said hospitals may have future supplies of coronavirus vaccine reduced if they do not administer doses quickly enough.
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The U.S. is not alone: The Netherlands and France are just two of several countries that have been slow to roll out vaccinations. But the level of disorder in the U.S., as with the virus’s toll, seems unique. |
The new variant, in one chart |
 | | By The New York Times | Sources: Local and national governments and health organizations, World Bank |
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The new variant may end up “exacerbating an unrelenting rise in deaths and overwhelming the already strained health care system,” my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli wrote last week. |
- An outbreak at a convent near Albany, N.Y., has infected nearly half of its roughly 100 residents. Nine sisters, all older than 80, died of Covid-19 in December.
- California’s prison system, which has been exceptionally hard-hit by the coronavirus, has started vaccinating some inmates — but none so far at the 25 prisons that have been most overwhelmed by infections.
- Thailand, which has been one of the most successful countries in containing the coronavirus, imposed wide-ranging new measures on Monday as infections hit a new daily high of 745.
- Japanese officials considered declaring a state of emergency in Tokyo for the first time since April. Authorities on Monday requested that restaurants and bars close by 8 p.m. to prevent further spread of the virus.
- South Korea will extend restrictions in and around Seoul until Jan. 17.
- Zimbabwe will shutter nonessential businesses for a month and extend a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, its information secretary said on Saturday.
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What else we’re following |
- The sustained loss of smell and taste among some Covid-19 survivors is receiving new attention from scientists, who fear it may affect nutrition and mental health.
- Americans have fled their local lockdowns for Mexico City, where coronavirus restrictions have been more relaxed. But hospitals in the Mexican capital are overwhelmed, and cases of Covid-19 are surging.
- Pope Francis criticized people who traveled abroad to sidestep pandemic lockdowns, saying they were ignoring those who were suffering.
- Struggling substance-abuse centers are shutting down or relying on virtual programming. People who struggle with dependence have started relapsing.
- The N.C.A.A. intends to hold its men’s basketball tournament entirely in Indiana in March and early April, in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
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- A 60-year-old Virginia state senator, Ben Chafin, died from complications of Covid-19.
- Israel has distributed the first of two doses to more than 10 percent of its population, in an unusually successful vaccination campaign. The effort has not extended to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority does not appear to have publicly requested vaccine doses.
- “Coronavirus will not kill the office,” wrote Dror Poleg in The Times. “If anything, it figures to be more dynamic than ever.”
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Unfortunately, I tested positive for Covid-19 just before Christmas. My family, rightly so, didn’t want me around them, but they agreed to FaceTime me into the action whenever I wanted. Ironically, one of my sisters got my other sister a selfie stick/tripod for Christmas, so they placed a phone on the stick and set “me” up to see what was going on. It really made me feel like I was there, and it boosted my mood every day, helping me to survive the isolation. Christmas 2020 will forever be known in our family as “The One With Lora on a Stick.” (We’re huge “Friends” fans). — Lora Vandevoorde, De Pere, Wis. |
Let us know how you’re dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
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