The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved a new COVID-19 vaccine, produced by Johnson & Johnson. In an analysis that was more detailed than the approval process for Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech’s products, the FDA found that the new 1-shot vaccine had a 72% efficacy rate against the virus in the U.S. In South Africa where a new variant has taken hold, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had a 64% efficacy rate. The New York Times explained that this new vaccine, “can be stored at normal refrigeration temperatures for at least three months, making its distribution considerably easier than the authorized vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, which require two doses and must be stored at frigid temperatures.”

Still, vaccine distribution in the United States remains chaotic, slow, and inequitable. Vaccines set aside for California’s hardest hit communities through the use of special codes, were used, often unwittingly, by wealthier, less vulnerable individuals through confusing website registrations. A new Covid-19 variant now confirmed to be spreading through California has been found to be more contagious as per two new studies. It is not yet clear if it is deadlier or less susceptible to vaccines although scientists suspect it to be so. So far more than half a million people have lost their lives in the United States alone. Now, a new report shows billionaires have minted money off the crisis, seeing their wealth continue to grow exponentially. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), determined that collectively the nation’s 664 billionaires increased their wealth by $1.3 trillion. Meanwhile another report found that incidents of domestic violence rose sharply in the United States over the past year. The study’s authors expect their figures are an underestimate as they are based only on reported data. They also found that data from other nations like Argentina, Mexico, Italy, and Sweden did not see a rise in domestic violence. 

In international news, Israel has been stockpiling vaccines and using them as diplomatic levers, offering them to nations in exchange for political support, while ignoring a dire need for vaccines among occupied Palestinians. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Guatemala, and Honduras are among those slated to receive desperately needed vaccines from Israel in exchange for moving their embassies to Israel’s declared capital of Jerusalem. And Ghana became the first African nation to receive vaccines through Covax, a global vaccine sharing initiative. In