Raphael Stevens

Dr. Peter Marks at the Food and Drug Administration said people might need another booster shot in the fall.
Marks also said the U.S. might need to switch to a different vaccine that targets specific variants of Covid.
The FDA on Tuesday approved a fourth dose for people age 50 and older and fifth dose for certain younger individuals with compromised immune systems.

Nathan Jacobs, of Boston gets his Covid Booster shot from Sassy Yogurtian at City Hall on December 9, 2021 in, in Boston, MA.
Stuart Cahill | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

People in the U.S. might need another Covid booster shot this fall as public health experts expect immunity from the vaccines to wane and transmission of the virus to increase during colder months, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official said Tuesday.
Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA office responsible for vaccine safety, indicated the U.S. might need to offer fourth shots for people under 50-years-old in the fall. People who are now eligible for fourth shots would likely get a fifth shot if there’s evidence that would be beneficial, Marks told reporters on a conference call.

Marks also said the U.S. could switch to a different vaccine that targets a specific Covid variant or a mix of several. The current vaccines were developed against the original virus that emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019, and their effectiveness has declined over time as the virus mutates. Pfizer and Moderna are conducting clinical trials on shots that target both omicron and other circulating variants.
The FDA will hold an advisory committee meeting on April 6 to discuss the future of booster shots in the U.S. and whether the vaccines need an update to offer better protection against variants.
“It would not be surprising if there is a potential need for people to get an additional booster in the fall along with a more general booster campaign if that takes place,” Marks said. “It may be that a decision is made that rather than the vaccines we currently have, which are called vaccines against the prototype virus, that we will move to a vaccine that is either against one of the variants or something else.”

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The FDA on Tuesday authorized a fourth dose of Pfizer and Moderna’s original vaccine for people ages 50 and older. The drug regulator also authorized a second booster dose for younger people with compromised immune systems. People ages 12 and older with certain underlying medical conditions are eligible for Pfizer, and people age 18 and older with the same health problems are eligible for Moderna.
Marks said evidence from Israel suggests a fourth dose can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in older adults. The more contagious omicron subvariant, BA.2, has caused new waves of infection in major European nations as well as in China. The subvariant is now dominant in the U.S. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said earlier this month that BA.2 could cause infections to rise in the U.S., though he’s not expecting another surge.

Marks said the FDA decided to offer a fourth dose to older adults and a fifth shot to certain individuals with compromised immune systems so they have the tools to protect their health if another wave occurs in the U.S.
Scientists and public health officials are divided over whether more boosters are needed right now. Israeli scientists found that a fourth dose significantly reduced mortality in people age 60 and over compared to people who received three shots. The study from Ben Gurion University and Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest health-care provider, has not undergone peer review.
However, another Israeli study of health-care workers ages 18 and older indicated that fourth dose did not boost immunity in younger adults, many of whom still got asymptomatic and mild breakthrough infections.
“A fourth vaccination of healthy young health-care workers may have only marginal benefits,” Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay and a team of scientists from Sheba Medical Center and Israel’s Ministry of Health who conducted the study wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine this month.

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BA.2 is now the dominant version of Covid-19 in the U.S. as it accounts for nearly 55% of Covid cases that have undergone genetic sequencing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BA.2 is more transmissible and has caused new outbreaks in Europe and China.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has said he does not expect another surge, though cases could rise in the coming weeks.

A woman takes a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a pop-up testing site in New York City, January 12, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

The more contagious omicron subvariant, BA.2, is now the dominant version of Covid-19 in the U.S., according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week.
The subvariant accounts for nearly 55% of Covid infection samples that have undergone genetic sequencing. Even so, the spread of a more contagious strain does not guarantee the U.S. will endure a new wave of cases.

BA.2 has doubled as a proportion of circulating variants of the virus in the U.S. about every two weeks. At the beginning of February, the omicron subvariant made up just 1% of sequenced Covid cases in the U.S.

The BA.2 subvariant spreads about 75% faster than the earlier version of omicron, BA.1, according to the latest update from the U.K. Health Security Agency. BA.2 has caused a spike in infections in the U.K. and Germany in recent weeks, though cases have started to decline again there.
China has been battling its worst outbreak since 2020, which is also driven by BA.2
Though BA.2 spreads faster, it does not make people sicker than the earlier version of omicron, according to data from South Africa and the U.K., among other countries. Omicron and its subvariants generally result in less severe illness than the delta variant. Scientists in Qatar have found that Covid vaccines are as effective against BA.2 as they were against BA.1, though omicron has caused more breakthrough infections.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said earlier this month that BA.2 could cause an uptick in cases in the U.S. But he does not expect another surge. Fauci said the country does not yet need to reintroduce Covid restrictions in response to the subvariant.

In New England, BA.2 now makes up about 73% of all Covid cases that have undergone genetic sequencing, according to the CDC. In New York and New Jersey, BA.2 represents more than 70% of sequenced cases. Throughout the pandemic, the Northeast has often been an epicenter of new variants and a harbinger of what the rest of the nation will face.

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New infections have plummeted 96% since the peak of the unprecedented wave of omicron cases in January, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. Hospital admissions from Covid have plunged 92% from the peak of the winter spike, according to data from the CDC.
The CDC has shifted its focus to hospitalizations, an indicator of how much severe illness the virus is causing, when issuing public health guidance on Covid. Earlier this month, the CDC said 98% of the U.S. population lives in areas where they can go without face masks.
Ali Mokdad, a leading epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said Covid cases will continue to decline through the spring and summer due to built up immunity from vaccines and the winter omicron wave. Mokdad said another surge is possible in the winter as protection from the vaccines wanes.
However, Michael Osterholm — a top epidemiologist at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota — said it is unclear how BA.2 will affect the U.S. It is difficult to predict what the variant’s spread in one country means for another nation, because previous strains have affected parts of the world differently, he added.
Osterholm said the U.S. has had high levels of immunity before, only to see a major surge. In December, about 95% of the U.S. population ages 16 and older had antibodies against the virus either through vaccination or infection, according to a CDC survey of blood donor samples.
However, omicron still managed to cause the most infections of the entire pandemic weeks later.

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Few of the hundreds of foreign-owned planes rented by Russian airlines have been returned to owners.
Leasing firm Avolon says its recovered four of the 14 airplanes it had placed in the country.
President Vladimir Putin earlier this month signed a law allowing Russian airlines to continue flying the foreign-owned airplanes domestically.

An Airbus A321-211 aircraft of Russian airline Aeroflot with registration VP-BOE is pictured on a long term parking at Cointrin airport in Geneva, Switzerland, March 9, 2022.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters

The CEO of major aircraft-leasing company Avolon on Tuesday accused Russia of “robbery” after President Vladimir Putin’s government seized several leased planes.
The ordeal will have lasting impacts on the company’s relationship with the country, said the executive, Domhnal Slattery, casting doubt on whether the second-largest aircraft lessor would do meaningful business with Russian airlines ever again.

“We try every day but as of today [there is] zero chance of getting those back right now,” he said.
Western aircraft-leasing companies have been trying to recover hundreds of planes that are in Russia. They were required under sanctions in protest of Russia’s attack on Ukraine to sever contracts with Russian customers.
But Putin earlier this month signed a law that would allow the country’s carriers to fly the planes domestically and re-register them, dimming the prospects for their recovery by foreign owners. Some $10 billion worth of foreign-owned jets that were leased to Russian carriers are stuck in the country.
“It’s just robbery. They’ve stolen the airplanes. It’s incomprehensible,” Slattery said.
Avolon, which is based in Dublin, had 14 planes placed in Russia and has recovered four of them. It now has net exposure of about $200 million, Slattery said. He liked it to a “headache, not a migraine” for the firm, which had more than 800 planes as of the end of last year.

“It will be a very, very long time if ever that we would have appetite for incremental exposure” in Russia again, Slattery said.
Rented planes are key for Russia’s fleet of more than 970 planes with about 500 managed by a foreign owner, according to aviation data and consulting firm Cirium.
Slattery said the crisis in Russia will impact the insurance market, particularly driving up costs for war risks.
A representative at the Russian Embassy in Washington wasn’t immediately reachable for comment.
Avolon rival AerCap, which is also based in Dublin, will hold a quarterly call to discuss financial results on Wednesday morning.

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Tesla should accept that it violated labor laws if Elon Musk is serious about inviting the UAW to organize workers, union chief Ray Curry said.
Curry said that such an action would be a “good faith effort” and “demonstrate a commitment to the workers of the facility” in Fremont, California.
“The UAW stole millions from workers, whereas Tesla has made many workers millionaires (via stock grants). Subtle, but important difference.”

Founder and CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk speaks during a media tour of the Tesla Gigafactory, which will produce batteries for the electric carmaker, in Sparks, Nevada.
James Glover II | Reuters

If Tesla CEO Elon Musk is serious about welcoming organizing efforts of the company’s U.S. workforce, the automaker should rehire a fired employee and stop attempting to overturn a ruling that it violated federal labor laws, said an automotive union leader.
United Auto Workers President Ray Curry said that such actions would be a “good faith effort” and “demonstrate a commitment to the workers of the facility” in Fremont, California.

In 2018, Musk tweeted a comment that was found to have violated federal labor laws after Tesla had already fired a union activist, Richard Ortiz. The National Labor Relations Board ultimately ordered Tesla to rehire the employee and to have Musk delete the tweet, which they saw as threatening workers’ compensation.
Tesla is appealing the administrative court’s decision, however.
Curry spoke on Tuesday during an Automotive Press Association webinar. His remarks followed more provocative tweets by Musk earlier in the day. The CEO, who has a following of 79.5 million on Twitter, wrote: “The UAW stole millions from workers, whereas Tesla has made many workers millionaires (via stock grants). Subtle, but important difference.”
The Detroit-based union is under federal oversight through a court-approved monitor as part of a settlement between the UAW and the government following a multiyear corruption probe that sent 15 people to prison, including two recent UAW presidents and three Fiat Chrysler executives.
The investigation uncovered years of bribery and kickback schemes involving millions of dollars and several top union leaders.

Earlier this month, Musk said on Twitter that he was “inviting” the UAW to try and organize employees at his company’s plant in Fremont. “Tesla will do nothing to stop them,” he wrote.
Curry said the union “definitely would welcome that opportunity, but clearly know that there’s some current appeals that are out there.”

United Auto Workers President Ray Curry speaks at the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant on November 17, 2021 in Detroit, Michigan.
Nic Antaya | Getty Images

“A key piece out of all of this is not the whim of a tweet or anything else, an exchange between the UAW and Tesla, it’s about the workers in those locations having a voice inside of their workplace. That’s the most important part of this whole process,” Curry said.
Musk’s open invitation to the UAW on March 3 followed Musk earlier in the day tweeting a YouTube video that he says “helps explain why former UAW members who work at Tesla are not huge fans of UAW.” The clip was published in 2010 by the World Socialist Web Site channel on YouTube.
In the video, workers at the NUMMI plant, which would later become the Fremont Tesla plant, are seen complaining that a union member was prevented from recording a UAW meeting in the local union hall.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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The Food and Drug Administration has authorized a fourth Pfizer and Moderna dose for people age 50 and older.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly backed the decision, allowing the shots to be administered.
The FDA and CDC made the decision without consulting their committees of independent vaccine experts.
BA.2 has gained ground in the U.S. since February and is expected to become the dominant variant here in the coming weeks.

The top U.S. health regulators on Tuesday cleared fourth Covid vaccine doses for older adults, amid uncertainty over whether an even more contagious version of omicron will cause another wave of infections in the U.S. as it has in Europe and China.
The FDA authorized Pfizer and Moderna fourth doses for everyone age 50 and older, as well as a fifth dose for certain younger people with compromised immune systems. People age 12 and older with weakened immune systems are eligible for a Pfizer fifth dose, and those 18 and older with the same condition are eligible for Moderna.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly signed off on the decision, paving the way for those eligible to get a new round of boosters. The CDC also recommended that all adults who received two doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine get third shots using Pfizer or Moderna. Adults who received the J&J vaccine and a second shot of Pfizer or Moderna are not yet eligible for a third dose, unless they are age 50 and older or have compromised immune systems.
All of the new boosters are to be administered at least four months after the last shot.
The FDA and CDC made the decision without calling meetings of their vaccine advisory committees, a rare move the agencies have made more frequently over the course of the pandemic to expand uses of already-approved Covid vaccines. The drug regulator’s authorization comes just two weeks after Pfizer and Moderna asked the FDA to permit a second booster shot based on data from Israel.
The FDA’s advisory committee on vaccines is scheduled to meet on April 6 to discuss the future of booster shots in the U.S. The vaccine experts are expected to hold a broad discussion about boosters and will not vote on a specific recommendation.
Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA office responsible for vaccine safety and efficacy, said the drug regulator did not call an advisory meeting because the decision was “relatively straightforward.”

“This fourth booster dose is something that evidence that we have now from Israel suggests that by getting this, one can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in this population of older individuals,” Marks said during a call with reporters after the decision.
Dr. Paul Offit, a committee member, criticized the drug regulator for moving forward without holding an open meeting where the American public can hear experts weigh the data and make a recommendation to the FDA about the best path forward. The vaccine advisory committee’s recommendations are nonbinding, but they help provide transparency for the public.
“It’s just sort of fait accompli,” Offit said of the FDA authorization. “So is this the way it works? We talk endlessly about how we follow the science — it doesn’t seem to work out that way.”

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The FDA has not called on the committee members to make a recommendation on booster shots since last fall when they voted in favor of a third Pfizer or Moderna dose for people age 65 and older and younger people at risk of severe Covid.
Health experts disagree on whether a fourth vaccine dose is needed right now, though the debate is nuanced. There is broader agreement that the elderly or people with compromised immune systems may benefit from additional protection. Another booster shot for young, healthy adults is more controversial, as they are less susceptible to severe illness from Covid.
Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, said some scientists believe the only purpose of the shots is to keep people out of the hospital. However, Hotez said vaccine policy should also seek to prevent infection and long Covid. The effectiveness of the third dose against hospitalization from omicron has also declined over time, he said.
The CDC published a study in February that showed the effectiveness of the third dose against emergency room visits declined from 87% to 66% against emergency room visits, and from 91% to 78% against hospitalization at four months after receiving the shot.
“That gives me pause for concern that the boosters are not necessarily holding up as well as we’d like,” said Hotez, who strongly supports a fourth dose based on Israeli data showing another booster increases protection for people older than 60.
Israeli scientists, in a study published last week, found the death rate from omicron was 78% lower in senior citizens 60- to 100-years-old who received a fourth Pfizer dose compared with those who received just three shots. The study, which has not undergone peer review, examined the medical records of more than 500,000 people from January through February at Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest health-care provider.
The FDA decision to authorize fourth doses for those age 50 and older was broader than Pfizer’s request and narrower than Moderna’s. Pfizer had asked the FDA to clear fourth doses for those age 65 and older, while Moderna asked the drug regulator to permit them for all adults age 18 and older. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC last week that the biotech company filed a broader request in order to give the FDA flexibility to decide which age group needs a fourth dose right now.
John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, criticized Moderna’s request for a fourth dose for all adults as an aggressive, blanket application that doesn’t distinguish between the different needs that older and younger people have.
“The old and frail person has much more need of an additional vaccine dose than a young healthy athlete,” Moore said.
The authorization of fourth shots comes as a more contagious omicron subvariant, BA.2, has caused new waves of infection in major European nations and China, which is battling its worst outbreak since 2020. BA.2 has gained ground in the U.S. since February and is expected to become the dominant variant here in the coming weeks. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has said infections might increase in the U.S. due to BA.2, though he doesn’t expect another wave.
“We’re hoping that by taking this action, we will help allow people to take steps to protect themselves should we have another wave that comes through this country,” Marks said.
BA.2 generally does not make people sicker than the earlier version of omicron, BA.1, and the vaccines have the same level of effectiveness against both types of the variant, according to studies from South Africa and Qatar among others. Neither study has undergone peer review.
It’s unclear if the FDA will also approve fourth doses for younger adults at some point, as there’s less data to support such a decision right now. Marks said the U.S. might need a more general booster campaign for people under 50 years old in the fall, when Covid will likely pick up again and immunity will have waned. He also said the U.S. might have to switch to a vaccine that targets a specific variant such as omicron. The current vaccines were developed against the Wuhan strain.
An Israeli study from February among health-care workers ages 18 and older indicated that a fourth dose does not boost immunity but restores it to the peak strength of the third dose. Many people in the study who received a fourth dose still got infected, though they were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms.
“A fourth vaccination of healthy young health-care workers may have only marginal benefits,” Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay and a team of scientists from Sheba Medical Center and Israel’s Ministry of Health who conducted the study wrote in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine this month.
The FDA advisory committee voted overwhelmingly against a third dose for everyone age 16 and older in September last year because the experts felt there wasn’t enough data to support such a decision. Two months later, the FDA authorized Moderna and Pfizer boosters for all adults without holding an advisory committee meeting, and then lowered eligibility in December and January to include everyone 12 and older.

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A GameStop location in New York, Dec. 23, 2021.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Meme stocks swung violently on Tuesday with huge trading activity in the shares.
GameStop dropped as much as 14% with over 17 million shares traded through afternoon trading, more than doubling its 30-day average full-day volume of 4.6 million. The stock ended the day down 5.1%.

AMC Entertainment shares lost nearly 10% at their low of the day before turning green. As of Afternoon trading, 211 million shares have changed hands, quadrupling its 30-day average of 51 million. The stock finished Tuesday up 0.4%.
The reason for the moves were not immediately clear, but both stocks are up big this month amid a broader comeback rally on Wall Street so some investors could be using that pop to take profits in the volatile shares.

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There were some large block trades of GameStop in early trading on the NYSE. Outside of the open there were two trades of more than 20,000 shares apiece, according to FactSet data.
The NYSE briefly halted both stocks for volatility shortly after the open as the stocks popped then dropped.
The duo just notched a strong week as loyal retail investors kept pushing up the shares. GameStop shares rallied a whopping 67% last week as traders got a vote of confidence when chairman Ryan Cohen bought additional 100,000 shares of the video game retailer.

Meanwhile, AMC saw a 28% gain last week after the movie theater chain revealed its plan to buy a tiny gold miner. However, the move to take a significant stake in the gold miner with a shaky financial history confused many Wall Street strategists.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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