The New York Times. More stuff about the coronavirus and vaccines.

May 20, 2021

An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment.

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New reported vaccine doses per day in the U.S.The New York Times

By Jonathan Wolfe

The W.H.O. announced a steep drop in new coronavirus cases in Europe over the past month, though a top agency official cautioned that “this progress is fragile.” A study found that vaccinations sharply cut the spread of the virus in U.S. nursing homes. Oregon told businesses to check the vaccination status of customers if they let them go maskless. Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and a vaccine tracker.

When doses come to you

Demand for vaccines in the U.S. is dwindling. The country is inoculating an average of about 1.8 million people a day, down from about 3.3 million in mid-April.

Part of the problem is access. Some people are encumbered by jobs or the responsibility of child care. Others struggle with dire poverty. Many are adrift, out of reach or uninformed.

So, across the country, health officials are taking vaccines on the road, sometimes even to potential patients’ doorsteps.

Searching for the unvaccinated in Lincoln, Del.Caroline Gutman for The New York Times

In Sussex County, Del., many residents live in poverty, making them more vulnerable to the virus. But a trip to a doctor or a vaccination appointment may require navigating irregular bus routes or losing a day’s wages.

In April, teams from Beebe Healthcare and local partners added workstations to a bus that had been used as a mobile library. Workers, who are able to vaccinate 50 people in several hours, listen and dispel misinformation — in English, Spanish and Creole.

The Mobile Library makes up to six stops a week in more rural parts of Sussex County, Del.Caroline Gutman for The New York Times

In New York City, Black and Hispanic residents are being vaccinated at significantly lower rates than other groups are. Now, public health officials there are reaching out to unvaccinated residents. Community groups are knocking on doors to persuade people to be inoculated, and in some cases those who agree get appointments for doses in a temporary clinic nearby.

A community organizer trying to persuade public housing residents in the Bronx to be vaccinated.James Estrin/The New York Times

To reach homeless people in Washington State, officials have set up a clinic on wheels in Pioneer Square in Seattle. Thomas Dunlap noticed the mobile clinic by chance and accepted an inoculation with relief. As did Michael Clinger, another homeless man, who said he was “sick of wearing a mask.”

The mobile clinic in Seattle was open to all.Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

In rural areas, lack of access to technology and transportation during the pandemic has defined the potential for life, death or debilitating illness.

In Minnesota, the state health department and other partners transformed six city buses into clinics. Seats were removed and vaccination stations were installed. Personal protective equipment, canopies, tents and snacks have been stowed aboard. Up to eight people ride along, vaccinating 10 to 180 people at one event.

Vaccine administration volunteers celebrating a successful day of work in Foley, Minn.Liam James Doyle for The New York Times

Emily Smoak, a health department planner, said the mobile clinic teams aimed to build trust and curb the impact of the virus on communities.

“We are showing up in communities and telling people: ‘You do matter. We are not just going to leave you out of the greater process,’” Smoak said.

Vaccination campaigns in Asia

Two of China’s neighbors have enacted divergent vaccination campaigns, and their disparate results show the value of a muscular rollout.

Early in the pandemic, Taiwan shut its borders and required quarantines of nearly everyone who arrived from overseas, mostly shielding itself from the worst of the virus. But that has recently changed after enough infections have slipped by to cause localized outbreaks.

The country has reported 200 to 350 new infections a day for the past several days, after recording just 1,290 from the beginning of the pandemic until Saturday. Amplifying the concerns is the country’s slow vaccination campaign. Only about 1 percent of the island’s 23.5 million residents have been vaccinated. Scenes from the country now look like those from the early days of the pandemic, with businesses shuttered and lines around the block at testing sites. Experts say the slow pace of vaccination and more transmissible virus variants created a perfect window for a flare-up.

Mongolia, on the other hand, used its status as a small geopolitical player between Russia and China to strike deals with both countries to acquire enough doses to vaccinate its entire adult population. It’s a big victory for a low-income nation, which snapped up doses with a swiftness similar to the pace of much wealthier countries despite being late to the global rush for vaccines.

The country has been facing a forceful outbreak that began in March, but cases have been dropping during the past month, and officials are so confident about the nation’s vaccine riches that they are promising citizens a “Covid-free summer.”

Vaccine rollout

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended the period of time that the Pfizer vaccine can be refrigerated. Demand is high for vaccines among U.S. children ages 12 to 15, CNN reports. In an effort to increase the state’s vaccination rate, New York will hand out free scratch-off tickets for the Mega Multiplier lottery to those 18 and older who get a shot at 10 state mass vaccination sites next week. The vaccination campaign in Italy is speeding up, but it is heading smack into summer holidays, prompting fears that some would rather get away than get a shot. The Parliament of Ukraine named a new health minister who has promised to speed up vaccinations, including by trying to manufacture vaccines domestically, Reuters reported.

See how the vaccine rollout is going in your county and state.

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What else we’re following

The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a move by Republicans to relax mask-wearing in the chamber, The Washington Post reports. Colorado made it illegal to post personal information about public health workers and their families amid a rise in online harassment, The Washington Post reports. The Times examined the legacy of Dr. Wu Lien-Teh, a Chinese doctor who helped change the course of a plague epidemic in the early 20th century and promoted the use of masks as a public health tool. Overwhelmed lenders and panicked borrowers are in a frenzy to grab the remaining money in the Paycheck Protection Program. The Times’s Opinion section created a chatbot that can help you talk to vaccine-hesitant friends (in a kind and nonjudgmental way).

What you’re doing

Walking while unmasked Smiling at passing strangers Can the end be near? — Melissa Ray, Oakland, Calif.