Snow blanketed New York City early Monday morning as city and state officials prepared for a powerful winter storm, suspending Covid-19 vaccinations, closing in-person learning in schools and halting some mass-transit services. National Weather Service officials said up to 14 inches of snow could arrive in the city by Tuesday, which was the earliest that Mayor Bill de Blasio said vaccinations could resume. Several inches of snow had already accumulated in parts of the city early Monday morning.
Mr. de Blasio, who declared a state of emergency in the city Sunday, said high winds and intensifying, blizzard-like conditions would make travel too dangerous. At a television appearance Monday, he warned up to 22 inches of snow could fall in the area. “Job one right now is to protect people’s lives by dealing with the snow first,” the Democratic mayor said. “We really want to get back to vaccination tomorrow.”
J&J Single Shot Sees 66% Efficacy in Moderate COVID-19, 85% in Severe Cases
Breaking it down, the phase 3 trial of J&J’s one-and-done COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 72% effective in the U.S. in preventing severe to moderate COVID-19, but this fell to the 66% headline figure as its overall effectiveness was worse outside the U.S.: 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa, all coming 28 days post-vaccination. The better news is that it was 85% effective overall in preventing severe disease and showed “(c)omplete protection against COVID-19 related hospitalization and death” after 28 days.
The data are based on 43,783 participants accruing 468 symptomatic cases of COVID-19, and the study found that protection was “generally consistent” across race and age groups, including adults over 60 years of age. (There were 13,610 in this bracket, important as this is the group at highest risk for severe disease and death.)And the U.S. Big Pharma found efficacy against severe disease “increased over time,” with no cases in vaccinated participants reported after Day 49. It said in a call Friday morning that it now plots to file for an emergency usage authorization next week. “There was a clear effect of the vaccine on COVID-19 cases requiring medical intervention (hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)), with no reported cases among participants who had received the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, 28 days post-vaccination,” it said.