In this Saturday, May 23, 2020 file photo, a man sprays water at umbrellas outside a tavern at Plaka district, in Athens, as the restaurant prepares for reopening. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday April 21, 2021, the country's tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted, adding that restaurants and cafes will also be allowed to reopen outdoor areas starting on May 3. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis, File)
President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccinations at the White House, Wednesday, April 21, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a weekly meeting about the vaccination campaign, with Prime Minister Jean Castex, Secretary General of the Elysee Palace Alexis Kohler, Government's spokesman Gabriel Attal, Health Minister Olivier Veran, at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris, France, Tuesday April, 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, pool)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, talks to German Health Minister Jens Spahn, left, during a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
A man wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks by masked residents lining up for COVID-19 vaccine at a coronavirus vaccination site with a board displaying the slogan, "Timely vaccination to build the Great Wall of Immunity together" in Beijing, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Hamodah Zakout, left, and his brother Ahmad, right, Palestinian awakener, or Al Musaharati in Arabic, beat drums to wake up Muslims for their late night suhur meal before they start the last day fasting of the holy month of Ramadan, along the alleys early Wednesday at Shati refugee camp, in Gaza City, April 21, 2021. Muslims across the world are observing the holy fasting month of Ramadan, where they refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)
People, wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, walk past a closed restaurant with teddy bears inside, in Paris, Monday, April 19, 2021.(AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
In this March 20, 2021 file photo an employee at the vaccination centre at Messe Dresden holds a vial of Astrazeneca's active ingredient against Corona in his hand in Dresden, Germany. Countries in the European Union have ramped up the vaccination after sluggish start. The uptick comes as countries across Europe also grapple with a rise in infections that has pushed the EU’s overall number of confirmed cases close to 30 million.(Robert Michael/dpa via AP, file)
From left, Riss Crann, Rachael Kosicki,and Nikki Calabro, share in a laugh at Double Play Cafe, 320 Main St., in Wallingford, Conn., Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Local restaurants are preparing to get back to some type of normalcy after it was announced that starting next month most business restrictions are expected to lift. (Dave Zajac/Record-Journal via AP)
In this Wednesday, May 20, 2020 file photo, a worker places chairs at a fish restaurant ahead of its reopening in Piraeus, near Athens. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday April 21, 2021, the country's tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted, adding that restaurants and cafes will also be allowed to reopen outdoor areas starting on May 3. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)
People wearing protective face masks walk in the Plaka district of Athens, on Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday, the country's tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted, adding that restaurants and cafes will also be allowed to reopen outdoor areas starting on May 3. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
In this Sunday, May 10, 2020 file photo, people enjoy the beach of Glyfada suburb, southwest of Athens. Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday April 21, 2021, the country's tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted, adding that restaurants and cafes will also be allowed to reopen outdoor areas starting on May 3. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis, File)
People wearing masks to help protect against the spread of coronavirus, walk before a nationwide lockdown, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Turkey continued to post record-high daily COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, with 362 fatalities registered in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed. The country, which now ranks among the worst-hit nations, also reported 61,967 new confirmed cases.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
People without masks and ignoring social distance rules, sit at a park hours before a nationwide lockdown, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Turkey continued to post record-high daily COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, with 362 fatalities registered in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed. The country, which now ranks among the worst-hit nations, also reported 61,967 new confirmed cases.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
People wearing masks to help protect against the spread of coronavirus, queue to buy drinks at a park hours before a nationwide lockdown, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Turkey continued to post record-high daily COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, with 362 fatalities registered in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed. The country, which now ranks among the worst-hit nations, also reported 61,967 new confirmed cases.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)NEW YORK — Health officials have released more evidence that COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated people are uncommon.
The latest study looked at recent infections in about 75 Chicago skilled nursing facilities. Nearly 8,000 residents and nearly 7,000 staff received two doses of vaccine at the facilities. In those fully vaccinated, health officials detected 22 breakthrough infections. Most experienced no symptoms, but two were hospitalized and one died.
Other statistics have suggested breakthrough rates are significantly lower. However, residents of nursing homes and other skilled nursing facilities tend to be older and more frail than the overall population, and some studies have suggested vaccine effectiveness can be lower in that group.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday posted the study online.
Last week, federal officials reported about 5,800 breakthrough infections have been seen in about 40 states that have reported such data. That count included 74 deaths.
___
THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Biden pushes tax credit, vaccines for all over age 16
— Greece to reopen tourism services on May 15
— FDA inspection found problems at factory making J&J vaccine
— Tokyo Olympics delay decision on local fans from Japan
___
Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine
___
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
MISSION, Kan. — About three-quarters of Kansas counties have turned down new shipments of coronavirus vaccine at least once over the past month and several have done so for four straight weeks, state data show.
Six counties have rejected allocations for all four weeks and 33 other counties paused shipments from the state for one week. Twenty-six other counties paused shipments for two weeks and 16 paused for three weeks. Only 24 counties, mostly the larger ones such as Shawnee, Johnson, Sedgwick and Johnson, haven’t turned down any shipments.
The numbers, however, don’t account for doses that may have been shipped through the federal government to pharmacies and some clinics.
Data show that Just 37% of the state’s residents are at least partially vaccinated. That percentage is far from where the state needs to get to reach a level of herd immunity that would make it difficult for the virus to spread.
___
BANGKOK — Thai health officials are investigating six women who got stroke-like symptoms immediately following vaccination with China’s Sinovac COVID-19 shot.
The country should continue with its vaccination drive since the issues were temporary and treatable, said Dr. Kulkanya Chokpaibulkit, a member of the committee investigating the cases.
The six health workers were vaccinated earlier this month and had a reaction five to 30 minutes after getting their shot, Thai health officials said at a news conference Wednesday.
More than 300,000 doses from the same lot have been given to others nationwide and there were no other reports of stroke-like symptoms elsewhere, officials said.
Reactions included dizziness, weakness in limbs, facial paralysis and sleepiness. The Thai cases are nothing like the rare blood clots linked to the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which occurred days to weeks after vaccination.
Scientists expect some serious health issues and deaths to be reported with mass vaccinations, simply because millions of people are receiving the shots and problems would be expected to occur randomly in a group so large. The vast majority of these end up not being connected to the vaccine.
Sinovac’s director of brand management and public relations told The Associated Press it will investigate the Thai cases.
—-
MADRID — Spain is set to administer its first doses of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine after European regulators gave it their approval while deeming it had a “possible link” to extremely rare cases of blood clots.
Central authorities on Wednesday distributed the lot of 146,000 shots that had been kept in storage to regional healthcare managers for their immediate use.
Health Minister Carolina Darias said authorities will stick to their plan of using the single-dose J&J vaccine first on those between 70-79 years old, while not placing any official age limits on the vaccine.
Spain has limited the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also linked to extremely rare blood clots, for those over 60.
Hampered like the rest of Europe by shipment delays during the first three months of the vaccination program, Spain has picked up the pace recently as the vaccines start to flow into the country.
___
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister says the country’s tourism industry will open on May 15 when a ban on travel between different regions in the country will be lifted.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the announcement in a televised address Wednesday, adding that restaurants and cafes will be allowed to reopen in outdoor areas starting on May 3. Restrictions, many of which have been in effect since early November, will remain in place over the Orthodox Easter on May 2.
Despite the lockdown measures, Greece has struggled to contain a flare-up in cases that started in late January. Its mortality rate remains above the European Union average.
The total confirmed death toll in Greece reached 9,713 on Wednesday.
—-
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey recorded another daily record of COVID-19 deaths at 362 in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.
The country reported 61,967 new confirmed cases. The coronavirus confirmed death toll stands at 36,975, with at least 4.4 million cases.
The country has been placed under a partial lockdown since April 13, which involves an extended evening curfew on weekdays, a return to online education and a ban on unnecessary intercity travel. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the government will impose stricter measures if the infection and death rates fail to decline.
Officials have blamed the faster-spreading variants for the rising number of cases and deaths.
___
TUCSON, Ariz. — A plan to establish a large federally supported mass vaccination in metro Tucson is being shelved and Pima County is instead asking for mobile vaccination sites.
State and federal officials didn’t reach consensus on details of an agreement authorizing and running the proposed mass vaccination site, officials said Tuesday.
The county is pivoting to ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency for mobile sites capable of providing about 300 shots daily to reach populations that could use help getting vaccinated, said County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry.
“It’s an inconvenience for a variety of reasons because they don’t have the technology, they don’t have the time, because they don’t have the wherewithal, mobility issues, language barriers,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, the county’s medical officer. “We need to decrease those barriers.”
___
CAIRO — Egypt’s health minister says a southern province has seen a “slight but continuous” spike in confirmed cases of coronavirus, amid calls to impose restrictions to contain the spread.
Authorities have reported 400-450 cases per week amid a third wave of the pandemic in Sohag province. That compares to an average of 600 cases weekly at the peak of the first wave last summer, Health Minister Hala Zayed said in a statement.
Zayed’s report came as the head of the doctors’ union in Sohag, Dr. Mahmoud Fahmy, called for authorities to impose a curfew across the province to stem the spread.
Fahmy said this week that hospitals designed to treat COVID-19 patients in Sohag were full, and there was a shortage of ventilators.
Egypt has reported more than 218,000 confirmed cases and 12,820 confirmed deaths.
___
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden met the goal of administering 200 million coronavirus doses in his first 100 days in office. More than 50% of adults are at least partly vaccinated and about 28 million vaccine doses are being delivered each week.
“We’re entering a new phase of our vaccination efforts,” Biden said in a White House speech on Wednesday, noting the first months of the rollout were aimed at older people and essential workers. “Now our objective is to reach everyone, everyone over the age of 16 in America.”
Biden added: “Vaccines can save your own life, but they can also save your grandmother’s life, your co-worker’s life, the grocery store clerk or the delivery person helping you and your neighbors get through the crisis. That’s why you should get vaccinated.”
Also, the White House announced its trying to overcome diminishing demand for COVID-19 shots by offering businesses a tax incentive to give employees paid leave to get vaccinated.
___
NEW YORK — U.S. regulators say a Baltimore factory contracted to make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine was dirty, didn’t follow proper manufacturing procedures and had poorly trained staff. The problems resulted in contamination of a batch of material that was going to be put in the shots.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday released a 13-page report detailing findings from its recent inspection of the now-idle Emergent Biosciences factory. J&J and Emergent say they’re working to fix the problems.
The nearly 8 million doses of J&J vaccine that have been used in the U.S. came from European sources.
Agency inspectors said a batch of the bulk drug substance for J&J’s single-shot vaccine was contaminated with material used to make COVID-19 vaccines for another Emergent client, AstraZeneca. That batch, reportedly enough to make about 15 million J&J vaccine doses, had to be thrown out.
Nothing made at the factory for J&J has been distributed yet. The Baltimore factory halted production late last week at the request of the FDA. The agency hasn’t given emergency approval to the factory, which is needed before any vaccine material made there can be distributed.
___
PARIS — A government official says France is about to impose new entry restrictions on travelers from India to fight a contagious coronavirus variant spreading in that country.
The restrictions come in addition to those previously announced regarding four other countries, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, which will be implemented starting from Saturday.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal confirmed that France will lift its ban on domestic travel as planned on May 3. But it will maintain its nighttime curfew, now in place from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. The official says nonessential shops, closed since the partial lockdown of the country in early April, won’t reopen before mid-May.
___
LISBON, Portugal — Portugal will start administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a day after European regulators gave it the go-ahead following a blood clot concern
Portuguese Health Minister Marta Temido says the shot will speed up the goal of vaccinating those over 60 years old. But she added national authorities will study findings by European regulators to determine if any restrictions should be placed on its use for younger people.
The European Union’s drug regulatory agency said Tuesday that it found a “possible link” between Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine and extremely rare blood clots and that a warning should be added to the label.
Last month Portugal restricted the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to only people over 60 after it was linked to similar cases of rare blood clots.
Portugal has received 31,200 doses from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and more deliveries are expected.
___
TOKYO — Japanese residents with tickets to the Tokyo Olympics may not know until weeks before the games open if they’ll be allowed to attend.
Fans from abroad have already been barred. Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto says a decision on venue capacity may not be made until June. She had previously promised that decision for this month.
Hashimoto says “we are still studying the timing.” Hashimoto spoke after she and CEO Toshiro Muto took part in an online briefing with the IOC executive board in Switzerland.
The opening ceremony to the Tokyo Olympics is scheduled for July 23.
___
GENEVA — Switzerland expects coronavirus vaccinations for all adults will be completed by the end of July at the current rate of supplies from manufacturers.
Health minister Alain Berset noted a recent easing of lockdown measures -- including opening restaurants and bars for outdoor service -- began Monday. However, the country shouldn’t expect any other restrictions lifted until at least May 26. The seven-day average confirmed case counts is currently at about 2,000.
Berset warned of upticks in case counts in other countries that had intensive vaccination campaigns.
Switzerland has rolled out vaccines from Pfizerand Moderna. Swiss regulators have approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, although it hasn’t been deployed yet in the country.
Some 2.1 million people have received shots of the COVID-19 vaccine in Switzerland and nearly 770,000 have received the full two-dose regimen.
Overall, Switzerland has recorded more than 640,000 confirmed cases and 9,900 confirmed deaths.
Before you consider Johnson & Johnson, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Johnson & Johnson wasn't on the list.
While Johnson & Johnson currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
MarketBeat just released its list of 10 cheap stocks that have been overlooked by the market and may be seriously undervalued. Click the link below to see which companies made the list.
Get This Free Report
