New guidance on two masks and 300 million vaccine doses by mid-summer

Concerns about unpredictable supplies prompt some vaccine site closures, while feds predict all categories can start getting vaccinated in April

An update and a correction. In Wednesday’s rundown, I wrote that the CDC was unlikely to update mask guidelines to reflect the new research showing that two masks provide strong protection against COVID-19 and other infections. Now, the agency published guidelines that multiple layers are important, either a cloth mask over a disposable mask or a cloth mask with multiple layers. CDC says two disposable masks are not good protection, since the goal is to achieve a close fit, which is difficult with disposable paper masks.

And more news for today:

Hospitalization rates are headed downward - about 30% below the mid-January numbers, and the daily death toll is also declining. But more than 3,000 Americans are still dying every day from COVID-19. No other country has had worse COVID-19 numbers.

The USA will have 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of July now that new contracts have been signed with Pfizer and Moderna for an additional 100 million doses from each of the two companies, the president announced in a speech at the National Institutes of Health.

• White House adviser and NIAID Director Dr. Tony Fauci says the supply of vaccines should be sufficient to open up vaccinations to all categories by April.

• There have been concerns about whether vaccine makers can manufacture enough vaccine to satisfy the enormous demand and need for COVID-19 shots.

• Some experts think that the projected pace of vaccinations plus infections means the USA may reach “herd immunity” by Fall, a point at which uncontrolled spread would naturally slow. However, emerging variants could keep the pandemic in high gear longer.

• Los Angeles is temporarily shutting down five of its large-scale vaccine sites for the next two days because of uneven supplies.

The World Health Organization says that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine should be used even if it may be less effective against emerging variant strains of coronavirus. The vaccine likely prevents severe disease, making it especially beneficial for older people who are at highest risk for hospitalization or death from COVID-19, the WHO experts point out.

Leftover vaccine doses can go to cashiers and other pharmacy workers if no higher priority people are around, say executives from several chain drug stores in a Wall Street Journal article. They say that no vaccine doses are going to be wasted. There has been widespread confusion over what to do with excess doses that cannot be stored for the next day.

That’s it for today. Keep watching your space, washing your hands and wearing those masks.