END IN SIGHT? GOTTLIEB SAYS PANDEMIC COULD BE OVER IN US BY JANUARY

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Friday that he thinks the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States could be over by January, transitioning to a lower-level “endemic” presence.

“I think the bottom line though is that these mandates that are going to be put in place by Jan. 4 really are coming on the tail end of this pandemic,” Gottlieb said on CNBC, referring to President Biden’s deadline for a vaccine or test mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees. “By Jan. 4 this pandemic may well be over at least as it relates to the United States after we get through this delta wave of infection. And we’ll be in more of an endemic phase of this virus.”

It’s not totally going away: The coronavirus is not expected to disappear entirely, but it could settle into a lower-level, constant presence that does not cause the disruption and harm of the past year and a half.

New treatments: In addition to vaccines, Gottlieb, who is on the board of Pfizer, also pointed to results from new treatments, including a pill from Pfizer that the company said Friday was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by 89 percent.

“Once we get through this delta wave of infection over the course of the next two months, I think that this therapeutic and the other innovations that we’ve seen coming to market really mark the end of the pandemic in the United States,” Gottlieb said. “We need to think about how we put that victory sign on the side of the White House.”

26 states push back on Biden vaccine rules

More than two dozen states are balking against the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses that have at least 100 employees, setting up the latest legal challenge between Republicans and the White House.

Several coalitions — which include 25 attorneys general and one solicitor general — filed petitions with federal appeals courts asking for the mandate to be blocked.

One group, led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and including 10 others, filed a lawsuit in the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that the requirement is “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise.”

The lawsuit alleges that the Biden administration did not have the constitutional authority to implement the mandate which “unconstitutionally infringes on the States’ powers.”

“Its unlawful mandate will cause injuries and hardship to working families, inflict economic disruption and staffing shortages on the States and private employers, and impose even greater strains on struggling labor markets and supply chains,” the attorneys general allege in the lawsuit, which requested that the court stay the requirement pending review.

Another challenge: A separate coalition of Republican attorneys general also filed a petition with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, also arguing that OSHA has neither the constitutional or statutory authority to implement the rule.

“OSHA’s vaccination mandate represents a real threat to individual liberty,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement on Friday. “As we have seen throughout the country, it is also a public policy disaster that displaces vulnerable workers and exacerbates a nationwide shortage of front-line workers, with severe consequences for all Americans.

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR COMES OUT AGAINST VACCINE MANDATE

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, said she doesn’t think having a coronavirus vaccine mandate is the “correct” or “most effective” move.

Kelly, who is up for reelection next year, said she appreciates “the intention to keep people safe” but doesn’t think the administration’s vaccinate-or-test requirements serve as a “solution for Kansas.”

“It is too late to impose a federal standard now that we have already developed systems and strategies that are tailored for our specific needs,” she said.

Her disapproval of the administration’s move comes as many Republican governors and attorneys general have voiced their opposition to the vaccine-or-test requirements for businesses.

The administration predicts the latest federal mandate will save thousands of lives and prevent more than 250,000 hospitalizations in its first six months. Kansas has seen more than 6,400 COVID-19 deaths and beyond 15,000 hospitalizations throughout the pandemic.

Kansas is ranked in the middle of the pack for its vaccination rate, with the state government reporting 53.7 percent of the total population have gotten at least one dose, while less than half are fully vaccinated.

HHS parts ways with Emergent

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A contract between the Biden administration and Emergent BioSolutions, a vaccine contractor who has struggled with production failures during the pandemic, has been canceled.

Emergent unveiled in its earnings report that the Department of Health and Human Services and the company ended the $650 million contract in a “mutual agreement.”

The company said they had agreed to forego about $180 million of the contract’s $650 million total.

Flashback: The contract was signed at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 under the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, but the administration stopped payments after the spring of this year when issues at the company’s Maryland plant were disclosed.

This past spring, the plant was forced to destroy the equivalent of tens of millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine because of suspected contamination with an ingredient for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Production was halted by the Food and Drug Administration after the contamination, delaying the rollout of J&J’s vaccine. The plant was eventually allowed to reopen after an inspection in August.

Emergent executive: In an op-ed for The Baltimore Sun, Kramer directed blame for the failures of the contracts toward the government.

“The original intent of this partnership was to create a facility that could produce 50 million dose-equivalents of influenza vaccine drug substance in four months in the event of a pandemic,” Kramer said. “Facility expansion was only a first step. To build and maintain a state of readiness, continued investment is a necessity. The government maintained that they would provide us with the necessary drug development work to build and maintain those capabilities. That didn’t happen.

Nov 8 (Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Global COVID-19 cases hit 250 million

Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 250 million on Monday as some countries in eastern Europe report record outbreaks, even as the Delta variant surge eases elsewhere and many countries resume trade and tourism. The daily average number of cases has fallen by 36% over the past three months, according to a Reuters analysis, but the virus is still infecting 50 million people every 90 days due to the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Infections are still rising in 55 out of 240 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Greece at or near record levels of reported cases since the pandemic started two years ago, according to a Reuters analysis. More than half the world’s population has yet to receive a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Our World in Data, a figure that drops to less than 5% in low-income countries. read more

Australia begins vaccine booster rollout as more curbs ease

Australia began administering booster shots of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Monday as millions of people in its largest city, Sydney, woke up to more freedom amid an accelerating immunisation drive. There are now no limits on the number of fully vaccinated guests at homes, while restaurants and entertainment venues can allow more patrons. Stadiums can operate at full capacity. read more

After more than 18 months of some of the world’s strictest containment policies, border restrictions have started to ease, setting in motion a plan to reopen the country to travellers amid a gaping hole in the market for casual workers. read more

U.S. braces for surge of vaccinated international travelers

The United States is expecting a flood of international visitors crossing its borders by air and by land on Monday after lifting travel restrictions for much of the world’s population first imposed in early 2020 to address the spread of COVID-19. read more

Passengers will need to show an “official source” showing vaccination status, and airlines will need to match the name and date of birth to confirm the passenger is the same person reflected on the proof of vaccination. read more

UK to roll out COVID-19 antiviral drug trial this month

Britain will start to roll out Merck’s molnupiravir COVID-19 antiviral pill through a drug trial later this month, Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at the UK Health Security Agency said on Sunday. read more

Last week Britain became the first country in the world to approve the potentially game-changing COVID-19 antiviral pill, jointly developed by U.S.-based Merck & Co Inc and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. read more

German coalition parties to table coronavirus draft law on Monday

The three German parties working to agree on a coalition government by early December will present proposals to combat a raging fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country on Monday, daily newspaper Die Welt said.

The plan, which includes the reintroduction of free tests, comes from the SPD, Greens and Free Democrats, which together hold a parliamentary majority, and will be discussed by the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, later this week. It is aimed to come into force before a national state of epidemic emergency expires on Nov. 25. read more

WORLD  STATS