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The United States on Saturday authorized Johnson & Johnson's Covid vaccine for emergency use, giving the nation a third shot to battle the outbreak that has killed more than 500,000 Americans.
The single-shot vaccine is highly effective in preventing severe Covid-19, including against newer variants, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said before giving it a green light.
<p>"This is exciting news for all Americans, and an encouraging development in our efforts to bring an end to the crisis," US President Joe Biden said in a statement.</p><p>But he urged Americans to remain vigilant with anti-virus curbs such as social distancing, warning that new variants of the virus still posed a threat.</p><p>"But we cannot let our guard down now or assume that victory is inevitable," he said.</p><p>A third vaccine is seen as a vital means to ramp up the immunization rate in the United States, where more than 500,000 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus.</p><p>In large clinical trials, the J&J vaccine's efficacy against severe disease was 85.9 percent in the United States, 81.7 percent in South Africa, and 87.6 percent in Brazil.</p><p>Overall, among 39,321 participants across all regions, the efficacy against severe Covid-19 was 85.4 percent, but it fell to 66.1 percent when including moderate forms of the disease.</p><p>Crucially, analyses of various demographic groups revealed no marked differences across age, race, or people with underlying conditions.</p><p>- 100 million doses by June -</p><p>The J&J vaccine is the third to be greenlighted in the United States after Pfizer's and Moderna's were provisionally approved in December.</p><p>Over 65 million people in America have so far received at least one shot of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines -- but unlike those, the J&J vaccine requires just one dose, and is stored at fridge temperatures, offering logistical and practical advantages.</p><p>The J&J shot appears less protective than Pfizer and Moderna's two-shot regimens, which both have an efficacy of around 95 percent against all forms of Covid-19 from the classic coronavirus strain.</p><p>All three have been shown to fully protect against hospitalizations and death, however.</p><p>Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Washington Post the two earlier vaccines were tested months before the emergence of "variants of concern" that could affect the efficacy, meaning the Pfizer and Moderna results were not an "apples to apples" comparison with the J&J shot.</p><p>There was a hint, based on preliminary data, that the J&J vaccine might be effective against asymptomatic infection -- though the company said it needs to do more research.</p><p>The company has announced it aims to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March, with 100 million by June -- though the US is pushing to expedite that timeline.</p><p>The J&J vaccine uses a common-cold causing adenovirus, which has been genetically modified so that it can't replicate, to carry the gene for a key protein of the coronavirus into human cells.</p>
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Madison Cawthorn built his career on falsehoods -- and is using his seat in Congress to push lies: report
February 27, 2021
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) was the focus of a hart-hitting investigation published by The Washington Post on Saturday.
"Madison Cawthorn was a 21-year-old freshman at a conservative Christian college when he spoke at chapel, testifying about his relationship with God. He talked emotionally about the day a car accident left him partially paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair," The Post noted. "Cawthorn said a close friend had crashed the car in which he was a passenger and fled the scene, leaving him to die "in a fiery tomb." Cawthorn was 'declared dead,' he said in the 2017 speech at Patrick Henry College. He said he told doctors that he expected to recover and that he would 'be at the Naval Academy by Christmas.'"
<p>"Key parts of Cawthorn's talk, however, were not true. The friend, Bradley Ledford, who has not previously spoken publicly about the chapel speech, said in an interview that Cawthorn's account was false and that he pulled Cawthorn from the wreckage. An accident report obtained by The Washington Post<strong> </strong>said Cawthorn was "incapacitated," not that he was declared dead. Cawthorn himself said in a lawsuit deposition, first reported by the news outlet AVL Watchdog, that he had been rejected by the Naval Academy before the crash," the newspaper noted. "Shortly after the speech, Cawthorn dropped out of the college after a single semester of mostly D's, he said in the deposition, which was taken as part of a court case regarding insurance.<strong> </strong>Later, more than 150 former students signed a letter accusing him of being a sexual predator, which Cawthorn has denied."</p><p>The report came one day after <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/madison-cawthorn-republican/" target="_blank">BuzzFeed News published an exposé on Cawthorn being accused of sexually harassing</a> former classmates.</p><p>The Post noted how Cawthorn is yielding his new power in Congress.</p><p>"He promptly used his newfound fame to push baseless allegations about voting fraud on Twitter in a video viewed 4 million times, which President Donald Trump retweeted, saying, 'Thank you Madison!' Then Cawthorn spoke at the Jan. 6 rally where a mob was incited to storm the U.S. Capitol, again alleging fraud and extolling the crowd's courage in comparison with the 'cowards' in Congress," the newspaper explained. "He returned to the Capitol, where he falsely claimed that insurrectionists had been 'paid by the Democratic machine.'"</p><p>Cawthorn's approach is very Trumpian.</p><p>"The story of Cawthorn's rise is, by any measure, an extraordinary accomplishment at a young age by a man who suffered a horrific injury. But an examination by The Post of how he ascended so quickly shows how even one of the most neophyte elected Republicans is adopting the Trump playbook, making false statements about his background, issuing baseless allegations about voter fraud and demonizing his political opponents," the newspaper noted. </p><p>Read the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/27/making-madison-cawthorn-how-falsehoods-helped-propel-career-new-pro-trump-star-far-right/?arc404=true" target="_blank">full report</a>.</p>
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This year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has illustrated Republican fealty to Donald Trump despite the GOP losing both chambers of Congress and the White House on his watch.
"If you watched House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's Saturday panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after spending four months in a coma, you'd not only think that there was no January 6 insurrection aimed at overthrowing former President Donald Trump's election loss, but that Trump actually won a second term," Axios correspondent Aaron Rupar reported Saturday. "The rest of CPAC has been similar in tone. In fact, despite President Joe Biden's decisive popular vote and Electoral College victory over Trump — and Trump's shameful efforts to overthrow the election during the transition period to a new administration — CPAC 2021 has served as a cultish celebration of the former president. None of the few remaining prominent anti-Trump Republicans were invited to speak, and no criticism of the former president has been brooked."
<p>McCarthy bending the knee may not be enough to satisfy the former reality TV star.</p><p>"Trump is now <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/02/27/trump-stewing-over-mccarthy-again-ahead-of-big-cpac-speech-491926" target="_blank">reportedly steamed</a> that McCarthy stood by House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) even after Cheney voted for Trump's second impeachment," he explained. "McCarthy in particular, and CPAC speakers in general, have sided against Cheney in this dispute. On Friday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) claimed during his speech that Cheney would be booed if she showed up at CPAC, and he's not wrong. But that Trump is even considering publicly castigating McCarthy just because he won't work to purge the handful of House Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment reflects the extent to which the party has devolved into a personality cult — one that's endured even after the leader was defeated."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4249b3e2a409431f6162374f2b35a11" id="0522b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1365762314717249536"><div style="margin:1em 0">McCarthy didn't talk much about Trump during his CPAC panel discussion, aside from crediting him for Republicans ga… https://t.co/pOnXtt1ccG</div> — Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)<a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/statuses/1365762314717249536">1614458085.0</a></blockquote></div>
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