US vaccine drive complicated by 1st, 2nd dose juggling act; Facebook steps up work to combat misinfo

The U.S. has entered a tricky phase of the COVID-19 vaccination effort as providers try to ramp up the number of people getting first shots while also ensuring a growing number of others get second doses just when millions more Americans are becoming eligible to receive vaccines.

The need to give each person two doses a few weeks apart vastly complicates the country’s biggest-ever vaccination campaign. And persistent uncertainty about future vaccine supplies fuels worries that some people will not be able to get their second shots in time.

In some cases, local health departments and providers have said they must temporarily curb or even cancel appointments for first doses to ensure there are enough second doses for people who need them.

In other developments:

• As inoculation efforts for the coronavirus ramp up around the world, Facebook says it’s going all in to block the spread of bogus vaccine claims. In practice, that means the social network plans to ban a new bunch of false claims in addition to the manifold false claims about vaccines and COVID-19 that it has already banned.
• A former Wisconsin pharmacist has pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he tried to spoil dozens of vials of COVID-19 vaccine.
• The coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal, a team of international and Chinese scientists looking for the origins of COVID-19 said Tuesday, saying an alternate theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab was unlikely.
• Anyone arriving in England and found to have lied about a recent visit to a COVID-19 hot spot country faces up to 10 years in prison under new tough border policies announced Tuesday by the British government. In Canada, nonessential travelers arriving by land will need to show a negative PCR-based COVID-19 test or face a fine beginning next week.
• Whether it was the power of her prayers or her T-cells that did it, 116-year-old French nun Lucile Randon has survived COVID-19. Randon is the second-oldest known living person in the world.
• Major League Baseball players, on-field staff and non-playing personnel who require access to them at ballparks must wear electronic tracing wristbands from the start of spring training and face discipline for violations.

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