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The two-dose vaccine is 96% effective against the original covid strain, 86% effective against the variant first discovered in the United Kingdom and just 49% effective against the one identified in South Africa.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers express views about the longterm impact of the pandemic on physical and mental health, and other health issues as well.
President Joe Biden is expected Thursday to sign an executive order rolling back restrictions on federal funding for global aid groups that provide information about abortion to patients. He is also expected to order a review of limits put into effect by the Trump administration on Title X funding for reproductive health services for low-income families. In other news, Utah, Iowa and South Carolina lawmakers are considering measures that could restrict abortions in their states.
Editorial pages focus on these pandemic topics and other public health issues.
The European Union and the United Kingdom have problems getting enough vaccine. In other global news, confusion reigns in Tokyo on how to proceed with the Olympics because of covid concerns.
In other news from across the U.S., California will get broader warnings for bisphenol A; the Justice Department probes Alaska's institutionalizing of children; and a doctor murders another doctor and himself in Austin.
Covid-19 brought lower traffic levels, but fatalities per miles driven rose 18% to a level not seen in 12 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Safety experts say reduced congestion gave motorists more room to roam and drive faster.
Demand for federal food assistance rises as the covid pandemic drags on. The poor face yet another problem: They can't use food stamps to pay for food purchased online for delivery. They must shop in the store, risking covid exposure.
Yet more evidence of how much more Americans pay for prescription drugs is revealed in a survey, while pharmaceutical companies make little progress helping poor Americans afford them.
The announcement is a key change in how health insurers view transgender patients' medical needs. Many have excluded breast augmentation as cosmetic. In other industry news, hospitals register their opposition to a Trump administration effort to tie Medicare drug prices to what patients pay in other countries and Walgreens gets a new leader.
For the full year, 3M reported 12.3% sales growth in its health care segment, which includes its respirator masks and products such as hand sanitizers.
People with lingering symptoms of covid-19 months after initially recovering are finding more help. Doctors seek answers to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, a rare inflammatory condition potentially linked to covid.
In other good news, hospitalizations are also down. News outlets report on the possible reasons behind the decreases while experts try to forecast which way the trends will continue.
The Moderna covid vaccine sometimes causes an itchy rash, but it is merely annoying and not a reason for concern, the company says. The WHO makes recommendations for pregnant women.
Overlake Medical Center in Washington state was rebuked for offering the vaccine to major donors; the Medical Center of Elberton in Georgia was suspended from giving out vaccines after offering them to school staff; and seniors in Johnson County, Kansas, waited outside for hours in bad weather.
A health care worker from Orange County died after receiving the second dose of vaccine. A separate case from Placer County is also under investigation by multiple agencies.
Pfizer says its vaccine works against mutations, but nonetheless Pfizer and Moderna are both working on a booster to fight the new variants.
Lawmakers demand more information on the covid outbreaks among the thousands of troops stationed at the U.S. Capitol since the Jan. 6 insurrection. And a second police officer who responded to those violent events has died by suicide.
An HHS inspector general investigation finds that federal funds allocated for scientific advancement by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority were misappropriated for 10 years by federal officials in the Obama and Trump administrations. They called it tapping the "Bank of BARDA," ABC News reports.
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