A dose of Moderna vaccine
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 801st day of the pandemic
Toddlers who have never seen the inside of a supermarket may soon be free to explore the treasures of the cereal aisle from the vantage point of a shopping cart shortly after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed its advisory panel’s unanimous recommendation to vaccinate all children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years.
In approving two vaccines, one by Moderna and one by Pfizer-BioNTech, each with a slightly different dosage, the country became among the first to offer jabs in the arm for this age group.
Many countries offer vaccinations for those 5 and older, and Cuba starts at 2 , China at 3, but only the United States now starts at 6 months.
“Together, with science leading the charge, we have taken another important step forward in our nation’s fight against Covid-19,” the director of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, said in a statement. “We know millions of parents and caregivers are eager to get their young children vaccinated, and with today’s decision, they can.”
As part of the rollout, the Biden administration plans to offer vaccination pop-up sites at children’s museums and public libraries and vaccinations could start as early as Monday or Tuesday.
In other news we cover today, North Korea is now reporting an “epidemic” of an unidentified intestinal disease and New York City may rehire workers who refused to submit proof of vaccination, but only if they get inoculated against the coronavirus.
Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.
UNITED STATES
In New York City, municipal workers who were fired over failing to comply with the city’s vaccination rules late last year are getting one last shot at getting their jobs back.
Such workers were informed Friday that they had an “opportunity to return to employment if [they] become full vaccinated.” They have until the end of June to get their first shot and must be fully vaccinated by mid-August.
“Once you provide proof of full vaccination (both doses), you will be reinstated to your civil service title at your most recent salary within two weeks of submission of proof of full vaccination, with no change to benefits or break in service,” Marisa Caggiano, the New York Police Department’s assistant commissioner for human resources wrote in a letter to fired workers.
GLOBAL
China is converting sections of the Olympic village in Beijing into Covid isolation camps, the Financial Times reported. Hundreds of people have been sent there since the outbreak of a cluster of Covid cases in the capital city’s entertainment district.
Meanwhile, officials in North Korea reported what was termed an “acute enteric epidemic” in the south Hwanghae Province. Officials dispatched medical crews and epidemiological investigators to the province to investigate the gastrointestinal disease, which South Korean officials believe might be cholera or typhoid.
The outbreak comes on the heels of a major Covid wave and ongoing food shortages.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Sunday, June 19.
As of Sunday morning, the world has recorded 544.1 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.2 million new cases in the preceding 24 hour period, and 6.34 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 519.3 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.4 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Sunday is 18,442,682, a decrease of 123,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 18,406,620, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 36,062, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical is unchanged over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 14,212 new coronavirus infections on Sunday for the previous day, compared to 116,485 on Saturday, 104,135 on Friday, and 134,095 on Wednesday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 96,015. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 100,763, a decrease of 1%, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 316, an increase of 20% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 30,189, an 6% increase.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Sunday, recorded 87.9 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.04 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 43.3 million, and a reported death toll of 524,856.
New data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed at the end of May that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 812,827, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, after the United States. Rosstat reported that 11,583 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in April, down from 35,584 in March and from 43,543 in February.
Meanwhile, Brazil now has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 669,062, and has recorded 31.7 million cases.
France continues to occupy the number four position in total cases with 30.1 million cases, and Germany is in the number five slot with 27.2 million. The United Kingdom, with 22.5 million cases, is now number six and is the only other country in the world with a total number of cases over the 20 million mark.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Sunday, over 259.2 million people in the United States – or 78.1% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 66.8%, or 221.9 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 592.3 million. Breaking this down further, 89.5% of the population over the age of 18 – or 231 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 76.8% of the same group – or 198.2 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 50.6% of that population, or 100.2 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.
Because of the bank holiday on Monday, the CDC is not publishing updates of vaccination or other data until Tuesday, June 21.
Over 66.3% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Sunday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 11.98 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 8.49 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 17.8% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain in the single digits, if not lower.
In addition, North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.
Paul Riegler contributed to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
