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U.K. Variant Doubling; AZ/Oxford Vax Stumbles in South Africa; Dry Mardi Gras?

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According to new research, cases of the U.K. variant in the U.S. could be doubling every 10 days. (CNBC)

South Africa stopped use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine after preliminary data showed it was less effective against mild and moderate cases of the South African variant. (New York Times)

As of Monday at 8:00 a.m. EST, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. reached 27,008,565 cases and 463,482 deaths, up more than 82,000 cases and 22,000 deaths from a week ago.

And the latest CDC data indicate over 59 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S., with over 41 million administered (69%).

Inside the lack of strategy and planning that plagued the Trump administration’s ballyhooed “Operation Warp Speed” and its vaccine rollout. (Vanity Fair)

It’s not that some healthcare workers don’t want the COVID-19 vaccine, they just don’t want it right now. (NPR)

A vaccine is great, but researchers shouldn’t overlook developing new treatments for COVID-19 either. (Scientific American)

New Orleans will shut bars down for Mardi Gras this year to limit spread of the coronavirus. (New York Post)

Georgia public health department officials seized vaccines at a rural clinic administering the vaccine to teachers, who are not currently in the state’s allocated distribution group. (NBC News)

Meanwhile, Massachusetts’ vaccine website was so confusing, a software engineer on maternity leave built her own. (WBUR)

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told President Biden that all 32 NFL owners want to pack their stadiums … with people getting a COVID-19 vaccine, that is. (Axios)

In other news:

  • Six months after the Ebola outbreak in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was declared over, the World Health Organization announced a new case (and death) in the city of Butembo.
  • A doctor who treated the head of the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, after being poisoned, has “suddenly” died. (The Hill)
  • How a scientific journal’s “overreaction” fueled debate over a controversial Alzheimer’s drug. (STAT)
  • Molly Walker is an associate editor, who covers infectious diseases for MedPage Today. She has a passion for evidence, data and public health. Follow

Source: MedicalNewsToday.com