“No matter how hard you squint, or what angle you look at it from, the coronavirus vaccines are a triumph, Axios health care editor Sam Baker writes.
Why it matters: They're saving lives today; they will help end this pandemic eventually; and they will pay scientific dividends for generations.
The big picture: The pandemic isn’t over. There are still big threats, and big problems to solve. But for all the things that have gone wrong over the past year, the vaccines themselves have shattered even the most ambitious expectations.
The vaccines represent a ‘stunning scientific achievement for the world … unprecedented in the history of vaccinology,’ said Dan Barouch, an expert on vaccines at Harvard who worked on the Johnson & Johnson shot.
Developing a vaccine takes an average of 10 years — if it works at all. Despite years of well-funded research, there are still no vaccines for HIV or malaria.
We now have multiple COVID vaccines, all developed in less than a year.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the world’s first successful mRNA vaccines — which, to oversimplify it, teach our bodies to generate an immune response without relying on weakened or inactivated viruses. It's a milestone that scientists have been working toward for 30 years.
Moderna's vaccine is the company's first licensed product of any kind.
Most importantly, all the leading vaccines work extremely well.
All four vaccines or vaccine candidates in the U.S. — from Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — appear to prevent coronavirus deaths, and to offer total or near-total protection against serious illness.
The catch: South Africa yesterday halted distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine because it appeared not to work against the dangerous variant discovered there — which is spreading across the world.
But that's a reason to lean into the existing vaccines. The best defense against widespread variants is to vaccinate as many people as possible. Read more at Axios
“The coronavirus variant that shut down much of the United Kingdom is spreading rapidly across the United States, outcompeting other mutant strains and doubling its prevalence among confirmed infections every week and a half, according to new research made public Sunday.
The report, posted on the preprint server MedRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, comes from a collaboration of many scientists and provides the first hard data to support a forecast issued last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed the United Kingdom variant becoming dominant in the U.S. by late March.” Read more at Washington Post
“U.S. to roll out vaccines to retail pharmacies. A million doses are set to be delivered directly to 6,500 stores this week, kicking off the first phase of the Biden administration's program in which major chains such as CVS and Walgreens will aim to administer tens of millions of shots a month.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Former President Trump’s second impeachment trial starts tomorrow, but the outcome really isn’t in doubt. GOP Sen. Pat Toomey says it's ‘very unlikely’ the Senate votes to convict Trump, especially since 45 Senate Republicans previously voted to suggest the trial shouldn’t go forward. Still, how long the trial will take and what exactly will happen are details that are up for negotiation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and their aides have been discussing the trial's organizing resolution, which would set all of these parameters. The Senate will pass the resolution before arguments begin.” Read more at CNN”
“Analysis: The outcome of Trump's second impeachment trial may seem preordained, but the trial itself matters. It is ultimately a test of whether a president, who holds an office that many of the nation’s founders feared could become too powerful in the wrong hands, is above the law. Senators will be forced to sit still, listen to evidence and wrestle with elemental questions about American democracy. The American people will also be sitting in their own form of judgment as they watch. The verdict and the process itself will be scrutinized for generations, Political Editor Steven Sloan writes.” Read more at AP
“Senior Democrats will unveil more details of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 relief plan on Monday, which is expected to take sweeping measures against child poverty. The Democrats’ bill would increase the child credit to up to $3,600 for each child under age 6 and as much as $3,000 for those up to 17. It's expected to help about 20 million lower-earning people. The House and Senate last week approved the legislation necessary to pass Biden's package through a process known as reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes in the Senate. The Senate is split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote. “ Read more at USA Today
“Tom Brady will wake up on Monday a Super Bowl champion — again. As the first team to play in the NFL's neutral site title game in its home stadium, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55 on Sunday, and Brady was named game MVP for a record fifth time in his seventh Super Bowl win. Was this championship run the most impressive of Brady's career? The Chiefs, meanwhile, had too many blunders to overcome to be repeat champions, and Patrick Mahomes came out on the wrong end of "The G.O.A.T. vs. The Kid" matchup.” Read more at USA Today
George P. Shultz at a State Department press conference in 1987.Credit...Ron Edmonds/Associated Press
“George P. Shultz, who presided with a steady hand over the beginning of the end of the Cold War as President Ronald Reagan’s often embattled secretary of state, died on Saturday at his home in Stanford, Calif. He was 100.
His death was announced by the Hoover Institution, where he was the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow. He was also professor emeritus at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.”
Mr. Shultz, who had served Republican presidents since Dwight D. Eisenhower, moved to California after leaving Washington in January 1989. He continued writing and speaking on issues ranging from nuclear weapons to climate change into his late 90s, expressing concern about America’s direction.
He carried a weighty résumé into the Reagan White House, with stints as secretary of labor, budget director and secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon. He had emerged from the wars of Watergate with his reputation unscathed, having shown a respect for the rule of law all too rare in that era. At the helm of the Treasury, he had drawn Nixon’s wrath for resisting the president’s demands to use the Internal Revenue Service as a weapon against the president’s political enemies.” Read more at New York Times
“The infamous polar vortex is on its way. Much of the nation will experience below-freezing temperatures this week, with 16 states across the Midwest and northern Plains forecast to endure temperatures below zero . That covers 16% of the country — or 41 million people. The blast of frigid air is likely to advance deep into the south-central states and across the entire eastern third of the nation. Be advised: The cold air ‘will be dangerous for young children, the elderly and those with respiratory or cardiovascular issues.’ In addition, AccuWeather is monitoring a potential storm destined to spread a swath of accumulating snow from parts of the Midwest to much of the Northeast starting as soon as Monday night.” Read more at USA Today
“290 — The approximate number of miles of 30-foot steel fencing left to build in the Trump administration's planned wall along the U.S. Mexico border. Nearly all of the new wall replaced fencing that already existed, mostly on remote federal land, and South Texas families have been fighting the government’s efforts to seize some of their property to continue building. President Biden issued an executive order on his first day in office to stop construction of the border wall temporarily, while evaluating how to halt it permanently.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Dying at Home: More Americans are making the decision to have their terminally ill loved ones die at home rather than in nursing home and hospice settings. For many families, home is a better setting than the terrifying scenario of saying farewell to loved ones behind glass or during video calls amid the pandemic, Heather Hollingsworth reports. National hospice organizations are reporting that facilities are seeing double-digit percentage increases in the number of patients being cared for at home.” Read more at AP
“Spring Travel: Around the globe, tough new restrictions on travel because of variants of the virus are hitting just when millions of people are normally on the move. That's more bad news for airlines, restaurants and hotels, which have been struggling mightily for the past year. In late winter and early spring, Chinese factory workers are normally heading home for Lunar New Year, American college students are hitting the beach over spring break, and Germans and Britons are fleeing drab skies for some Mediterranean sun over Easter. But all of that is now canceled or in doubt, Dave McHugh, Casey Smith and Joe McDonald report.” Read more at AP
“THE ESTABLISHMENT STRIKES BACK: LIZ CHENEY grabbed the mantle of the GOP’s anti-Trump faction [Sunday] morning on Fox — assuming a role that KEVIN MCCARTHY can’t or won’t take on and that MITCH MCCONNELL merely flicked at.
Appearing on a network whose viewership has plummeted under Trump’s attacks, Cheney proclaimed that the former president ‘does not have a role as the leader of our party going forward.’
Her defiance comes less than 24 hours after the Wyoming Republican Party voted overwhelmingly to censure her for voting to impeach Trump — and just days after 61 GOP members tried unsuccessfully to remove her from her role as Conference Party chair.
Aiming to prove that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,Cheney threw in with Republicans like MITT ROMNEY, BEN SASSE, and ADAM KINZINGER, who are determined to move the Republican Party past Trump — especially now that he’s been weakened without his Twitter bully pulpit.
In her first comments since the vote to remove her from leadership, Cheney …
… said her mind hasn’t changed that Trump deserves to be impeached. ‘What we already know does constitute the greatest violation of his oath of office by any president in the history of the country and this is not something that we can simply look past or pretend didn't happen or try to move on.’
… tweaked McCarthy (not by name) for allowing Democrats to force a floor vote to strip MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE of her committee posts, rather than dealing with it himself. ‘This is exactly the kind of issue we should address inside of our conference.’
… disavowed Trump even further. ‘Somebody who has provoked an attack on the United States Capitol to prevent the counting of electoral votes, which resulted in five people dying, who refused to stand up immediately when he was asked to stop the violence — that is a person who does not have a role as a leader of our party going forward.’ She added: ‘We should not be embracing the former president.’
The question is, can Cheney alone deprogram Republicans stuck on Trump? Probably not anytime soon. Cheney, like all House members, is up for reelection next year. She’ll have to fight a war at home against Trump’s troll army — loyalists like Rep. MATT GAETZ who are willing to go to her territory of Wyoming to paint her as Swamp First.” Read more at POLITICO Playbook
“Amazon warehouse workers poised to vote on unionization. Thousands of employees at the company's facility in Bessemer, Ala., can cast ballots Monday through late March that could reshape the e-commerce giant's relationship with its hourly workers.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Water cannon fired at protesters as tensions rise in Myanmar
Tension in the confrontations between the authorities and demonstrators against Myanmar's coup boiled over, as police fired a water cannon at peaceful protesters in the capital Naypyitaw. Nonviolent protests demanding the release of detained national leader Aung San Suu Kyi and restoration of her government have spread all over the country. There have been no signs that either protesters or the military are backing down over who is the country’s legitimate government: Suu Kyi’s party, which won a landslide victory in last November’s election, or the junta that formed last week and claims the polls were marred by voting fraud.” Read more at AP
“France will change its labor code to let workers eat at their desks. That’s ‘a catastrophe,’ one woman said. ‘You need a pause to refresh the mind.’” Read more at New York Times
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to one charge of bribery and three charges of fraud and breach of trust. The proceedings began back in May, and Netanyahu's plea marks the second time he has appeared in court. He is charged in three different cases. In the most serious case, Netanyahu is accused of advancing regulatory benefits worth more than $300 million that favored a telecommunications company controlled by a millionaire friend in exchange for favorable news coverage. His trial could have even more serious implications since Israel is only six weeks away from a general election. Netanyahu’s allies want to postpone the corruption proceedings, saying the trial would interfere with the election.” Read more at CNN
“At least 180 people are missing and 19 have died in India’s northern Uttarakhand state after part of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river, triggering massive flash floods. The water rolled down a mountain gorge, picking up rocks and debris before crashing through a dam. Most of the missing are workers from two hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district that were hit by the avalanche. Glaciers in the Himalayan region have been melting rapidly due to the climate crisis, and it’s not uncommon for them to become unstable. Environmentalists have warned against widespread development in the region, which can compromise rivers and other natural structures. A similar tragedy occurred in the region in 2013, when nearly 6,000 people lost their lives after a massive amount of rainfall led to flash floods.” Read more at CNN
“Italy’s new government. After initially ruling the prospect out, Italy’s Five Star Movement leader Vito Crimi has said the party is ‘open’ to forming a government with former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, assuming certain left-leaning priorities are adopted by the future government. The support of the Five Star Movement, Italy’s largest party in parliament, means that Draghi now has the backing of all Italy’s major parties as he attempts to form a government this week. Read more at Foreign Policy
“Election upset| Presidential elections in Ecuador will go to a runoff after socialist economist Andres Arauz placed first ahead of indigenous candidate Yaku Perez. Polls had shown a neck-and-neck race between Arauz and conservative banker Guillermo Lasso, but the vote count suggests Perez, who campaigned against mining, has edged into second place. Markets may react to the prospect of two leftist candidates competing on April 11.” Read more at Bloomberg
“The ACLU will announce today it's embarking on an aggressive racial justice agenda that includes support for a reparations bill, expanding resources into Southern states, and pushing for rural post offices to adopt basic banking services, Axios race and justice reporter Russell Contreras writes.
Why it matters: The 101-year-old ACLU is shifting its emphasis from defending free speech to forcefully tackling systemic racism amid a racial awakening in the U.S.” Read more at Axios
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