President Joe Biden on Thursday gave his first national public address from the White House, 50 days into his tenure and one year into the coronavirus pandemic. He made the case that his administration was using all available means to fight the virus. Biden emphasized the efforts toward vaccinating hard-to-reach communities. The President also laid out an ambitious agenda of beating the goal of 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days and announced that Americans would have universal access to vaccines by May 1st. Mr. Biden reminded Americans of the importance of remaining vigilant and adhering to social distancing guidelines even as the vaccination efforts ramp up.

Yet another vaccine maker has announced positive results of clinical trials of its product. Novovax’s Covid-19 vaccine has a 96.4% efficacy rate against the original strain of the virus after third stage trials. This is on par with Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines that are being widely used in the U.S. However, against the South Africa variant of the virus, Novovax’s second stage trial showed only a 48.6% efficacy although it still offered 100% protection against severe symptoms and deaths. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna have tested their vaccines against the South Africa variant yet. In other vaccine news, the U.S. is apparently sitting on a massive stockpile of AstraZeneca’s vaccines which have yet to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Europe, which has approved that vaccine, has asked to tap into American supplies. But some nations are rejecting the vaccine altogether based on claims that it causes blood clots. The World Health Organization has maintained there is no evidence yet linking AstraZeneca’s vaccine and blood clots. 

In spite of Mr. Biden’s exhortations for Americans to get vaccinated, a whopping 30% of Americans say they would refuse the shot. This number includes 41% of all Republicans. In spite of social media crackdowns, anti-vaxx claims continue to proliferate online. The leading anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy, who has been banned from Instagram for spreading baseless conspiracy theories, has now released a documentary which audaciously uses the virus’s outsize impact on Black communities to weaponize anti-vaccine sentiments. According to NBC, “The hourlong film, which relies heavily on the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, promotes false claims that Covid-19 vaccination efforts are part of a larger, sinister experiment on Black communities.” Additionally the New York Times on Friday reported that, “Evidence suggests that some sexual and gender minorities — especially people of color — are hesitant to be vaccinated because of mistrust of the medical establishment.”

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