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The CDC announced this morning its first set of guidelines for those who are fully vaccinated.  

Activities that fully vaccinated individuals can now resume include:

•  Visiting other fully vaccinated people indoors without masks or social distancing 
• Visiting unvaccinated people from one other household — if they are low risk for severe illness — indoors and without mask wearing or social distancing 
• Fully vaccinated people do not have to get tested or quarantine after coming in contact with someone who is positive for Covid-19 if they do not have symptoms. 
• When in public, however, fully vaccinated people should still wear masks, social distance, avoid medium-larger gatherings, and follow travel requirements. (Source: CDC.gov) 

 

Johnson and Johnson’s single dose, adenovirus Covid-19 vaccine was authorized for emergency use by the FDA on Feb. 27 for people ages 18 and older.

•  This vaccine has 66% efficacy overall, 72% efficacy in the US, 85% efficacy in preventing severe cases of the virus, and 100% efficacy in preventing death.
• Johnson & Johnson has promised 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million doses for the US by this summer. (Sources: FDA, Johnson & Johnson, and White House Covid-19 press briefing on Feb. 24)

 

President Biden said March 2 that the U.S. was now on track to have enough vaccines for all U.S. adults by the end of May — two months earlier than previous estimates.

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     He also announced that the White House had brokered a deal for the pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. to help Johnson & Johnson ramp up production of its just-approved one-dose vaccine. Merck & Co will provide two facilities for making Johnson & Johnson vaccines and “fill-finish” services. However, it is still unknown how quickly they will increase production. (Source: The White House) 

In other vaccine news:

• Moderna is currently developing booster shots to be administered in addition to both vaccine doses, tailored specifically to combat the South African variant. On Feb. 24, Moderna began preparing for a Phase 1 trial of its first booster shot, which will start in mid-March. These trials will be composed of volunteers who both have and have not been vaccinated against Covid-19. The first trial phase will focus on safety and immunogenicity rather than efficacy of the booster. (Source: White House Covid-19 press briefing on Feb.26)
• Pfizer and Moderna are beginning trial testing their mRNA vaccines in teenagers and children to see if they are safe and effective in these age groups. The Pfizer vaccine is already cleared for use in people as young as 16, while the Moderna vaccine is cleared for people 18 and up. 
• Moderna is also now studying how the vaccine works in teens ages 12 to 17, and in March plans to begin testing in ages 6 years to 6 months old. 
• Pfizer plans to begin studying how the vaccine reacts in ages 6 to 12 in April.

Data for the 12-to-17 age group are expected by the beginning of fall, while for ages 12 and under it will take approximately a year to collect data, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci. (Source: White House Covid-19 press briefing on Feb.19)