Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today - The New York Times

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Moderna and Pfizer said that their vaccines may require alterations to fend off the new variants.

The New York Times

• The E.U. recommended restricting nonessential travel to curb the spread of more contagious variants of the coronavirus.

• The White House is extending travel bans on Europe and Brazil, and will also add South Africa to the list.

• Merck announced that it was abandoning two Covid-19 vaccines in clinical trials.

• Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and vaccines in development.

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Vaccines versus the variants

Moderna and Pfizer acknowledged today that their vaccines might require alterations and boosters to fend off new and future variants of the virus. It’s a stark admission that the virus is adapting more quickly than previously thought, and that it may continue to mutate in ways that can help it evade vaccines.

The British variant had no effect on the levels of neutralizing antibodies — the type that can disable the virus — produced after vaccination. But with the South African form, there was a sixfold reduction in those levels. Even so, Moderna said, those antibodies “remain above levels that are expected to be protective.”

Nevertheless, Moderna has already begun developing a new form of the vaccine that could be used as a booster against the South African variant.

“We’re doing it today to be ahead of the curve, should we need to,” Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna’s chief medical officer, told The Times. “I think of it as an insurance policy.”

Fortunately, the mRNA technology used by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech allows the companies to create vaccines much more quickly than traditional methods. The chief executive of BioNTech, Dr. Ugur Sahin, said today that the company could develop a new variant-targeted vaccine in six weeks, though it would be up to regulators to determine the timeline for rolling it out.

Scientists have long predicted that the coronavirus would eventually evolve in ways that could thwart vaccines, though few thought it would happen so quickly. Part of the problem is how fast the virus is spreading worldwide, which gives it more opportunities to mutate.

Another issue is that few countries — including the U.S. — have invested in the kind of programs that could detect emerging variants, essentially leaving them blind to mutations. The pace of vaccinations, which could eventually provide herd immunity, has also been slow in places like the U.S. and the European Union — and there are many countries in the world where no one has been vaccinated at all.

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Fauci on Trump

My colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr. had an hourlong conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci this weekend in which he described some of the difficulties of working with President Donald J. Trump. An excerpt is below, but please read the full interview.

When did you first realize things were going wrong between you and Mr. Trump?

It coincided very much with the rapid escalation of cases in the northeastern part of the country, particularly the New York metropolitan area. I would try to express the gravity of the situation, and the response of the president was always leaning toward, “Well, it’s not that bad, right?” And I would say, “Yes, it is that bad.” It was almost a reflex response, trying to coax you to minimize it. Not saying, “I want you to minimize it,” but, “Oh, really, was it that bad?”

There was a point in February when things changed: Alex Azar was running the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and then suddenly Mike Pence was, and Mr. Trump was at the podium taking the questions and arguing with reporters. What happened?

To be totally honest with you, I don’t know. We were having, you know, the standard kind of scientifically based, public-health-based meetings. Then I started getting anxious that this was not going in the right direction — the anecdotally driven situations, the minimization, the president surrounding himself with people saying things that didn’t make any scientific sense. We would say things like: “This is an outbreak. Infectious diseases run their own course unless one does something to intervene.” And then he would get up and start talking about, “It’s going to go away, it’s magical, it’s going to disappear.”

That’s when it became clear to me: I’m not going to proactively go out and volunteer my contradiction of what the president said. But he would say something that clearly was not correct, and then a reporter would say, “Well, let’s hear from Dr. Fauci.” I would have to get up and say, “No, I’m sorry, I do not think that is the case.” It isn’t like I took any pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States. I have a great deal of respect for the office. But I made a decision that I just had to.

When did the death threats start?

Wow. Many, many months ago. In the spring — hold on, just bear with me. [He consults someone who answers “March 28.”] So there — you got it from the head of my Secret Service detail. That’s when I got protection, so maybe two weeks prior to that.

Did you ever think about quitting?

Never. Never. Nope.

You can read the full interview with Dr. Fauci here.

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Resurgences

• In China, an official in the northeastern city of Tonghua, where residents are barred from leaving their homes amid a strict lockdown, apologized to residents who said they had not been receiving enough food.

• A Berlin hospital was forced to lock down and put its entire staff in quarantine, after 20 cases of the new British variant of the coronavirus were found among patients and hospital workers.

• Officials in New Zealand confirmed a case of the South African variant in a returned traveler after she left hotel quarantine.

• New York City will delay opening some mass vaccination sites, Mayor Bill de Blasio said, as supply remains low.

Here’s a roundup of restrictions in all 50 states.

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What else we’re following

• Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has contracted the coronavirus.

• California lifted lockdown restrictions in large parts of the state.

• The E.U. escalated a war of words with AstraZeneca over the company’s sudden announcement on Friday that it would have to drastically cut the number of vaccine doses delivered to the bloc and its 27 members.

• China’s vaccines were supposed to deliver a geopolitical win that showcased the country’s scientific prowess and generosity. Instead, in some places, they have set offa backlash.

• Ukraine reopened schools, restaurants and movie theaters after testing showed the coronavirus was spreading less rapidly after just one week of a strict lockdown.

• President Biden is vowing to reopen schools quickly, but with union opposition mounting, his push is facing serious obstacles.

• Some patients could be living with the aftereffects of Covid-19 for years to come. Recent research into another persistent, mysterious disease might help us understand how to treat them.

• Arizonans seeking vaccination are mistakenly calling an 8-year-old girl in Missouri.

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What you’re doing

The pandemic has helped reshape the way I see myself in the mirror. I stopped applying daily makeup, my 20-year ritual since high school. Once I slowly started to embrace the beauty of my skin in its natural state, flaws and all, I decided to take it a step further and stop taming my hair with heat and modifying it with color. I have grown to love my uneven waves and stray grays. While we must wear masks every day, I actually feel like I have taken mine off.

— Jessica Russell, Las Vegas

Let us know how you’re dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Sign up here to get the briefing by email.

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