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 | | The New York Times |
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March is shaping up to be a critical month for the vaccine rollout in the United States, as a new vaccine comes online and the production and delivery of doses surge. |
The vaccine supplies from Pfizer and Moderna are also set to increase considerably this month. Pfizer said that it would be able to ship 13 million doses per week by the middle of this month, up from around five million at the beginning of February. Moderna said that it expected to double its shipments to more than 10 million doses by the end of the month. |
Together, that means the U.S. will have enough doses on hand by the end of this month to vaccinate about 130 million Americans, or roughly half of all eligible adults, and 40 percent of the total population. |
Of course, persuading that many people to actually take the vaccines, and administering them at sites across the country, is its own challenge. To handle the increase, states and cities are rushing to open mass vaccination sites where they can administer thousands of shots a day. |
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also joined in, opening seven mega-sites in California, New York and Texas that are staffed by active-duty troops. The agency is planning more, with some locations aiming to inoculate at least 12,000 people a day, while others will operate around the clock to meet demand. |
Mass vaccination sites, however, are not perfect. They often cater to highly motivated people with access to vehicles, and may leave out harder-to-reach Americans who may be reluctant to get shots. To address these problems FEMA plans to open sites in low-income, heavily Black and Latino neighborhoods where vaccination rates have been lower. |
Pharmacies and community clinics will also be critical. In Connecticut, Community Health Center operates a number of large sites, but is planning to send small mobile teams into neighborhoods to reach vaccine-hesitant populations. |
Mark Masselli, the group's president and chief executive, says the time is right. |
"March 14 is Daylight Saving Time," he said. "We're going to pick up warmer weather, more light." |
The pandemic lockdown radically reshaped the American economy, devastating those who were already struggling. But for the 50 percent or so of the population that make up the middle class — defined by Pew Research Center as having an income ranging from around $45,000 to $135,000 for a household of three — the toll has been wildly uneven. |
There are "millions of friends who were on a relatively equal financial footing before last March — people who would have thought nothing of splitting the check on a night out — and now find themselves on vastly different trajectories," wrote my colleague Nelson Schwartz, who covers economics. "Like a tornado, the pandemic can devastate one household and leave neighboring ones unscathed." |
Silver lining for states. New data shows that for many states, who were forced to revise their revenue forecasts because of the pandemic, the worst didn't come. By some measures, the states ended up collecting nearly as much revenue in 2020 as they did in 2019. One big reason: $600-a-week federal supplements that allowed people to keep spending — and states to keep collecting sales tax revenue — even when they were jobless. |
Stimulus watch. The House passed a $1.9 trillion virus relief bill on Saturday, which includes $1,400 checks for many Americans and billions of dollars for unemployment benefits and small businesses. Now it's heading to the Senate, which could pick it up as early as Wednesday, and the White House is hopeful that President Biden will be able to sign it into law in the next two weeks. |
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I miss my "me time." I miss the silence around the house in the morning when I came home from work because the kids were at school. I miss my friends, but this got me thinking if we are friends at all. The incessant noise is driving me crazy. I can't send an email without reading it a lot of times because I can't concentrate while composing. Most of all, I miss reading without being interrupted by anime soundtracks and loud radio news. The only routine I have (aside from working and cleaning the house) is my morning coffee. Without it, I really don't know where to go. — Deborah Toling, Cebu City, Philippines |
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