Current Events in March 2021

The current coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine shortage could end very soon. President Biden has announced that there will be enough vaccine doses available to vaccinate every American adult by the end of May.

That’s two months earlier than previous estimates, and it’s being made possible by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) conditional approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The company already has 3 million doses on the shelf, and the White House announced Tuesday that rival drugmaker Merck will step in to aid production.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Biden said at a White House briefing. “And today’s announcements are a huge step in our effort to beat this pandemic.”

With more vaccines entering the pipeline, it should speed up the production and distribution process. Many seniors have expressed frustration with booking vaccination appointments because of the scarcity of the vaccine and the need to schedule two shots for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson drug requires just one shot.

Expanding the pool to include teachers

Currently, frontline workers and adults aged 65 and older are eligible to receive vaccinations, but Biden is urging states to prepare to expand the eligibility pool as more vaccine doses become available. 

He said the expanded pool should include teachers, school staff, and child care workers so children can return to the classroom as soon as possible. Biden suggested that invoking the federal pharmacy program could accomplish that goal by prioritizing teachers and having all of them vaccinated with at least one dose by the end of March.

Despite scarcity, the vaccination rollout has gone more smoothly in recent weeks. The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the seven-day average of vaccinations has risen to 1.8 million a day. At the beginning of the week, nearly 51 million Americans had received at least one shot.

Countering vaccine hesitancy

While officials are encouraged by the increases in available vaccines, they remain concerned that not everyone is willing to roll up their sleeve. The Ad Council, working with major corporations, is currently running public education campaigns to counter “vaccine hesitancy” among Americans who are mistrustful of the process.

A January survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly 30 percent of health care workers expressed hesitancy about getting a COVID-19 shot. The percentage was higher for staff in long-term care facilities, where six in 10 health care workers did not get a shot during the first month of vaccine distribution, according to the CDC.

Recent studies have found that COVID-19 can affect several organs throughout the body, including the brain and the heart. 

Now, researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine have explored in-depth how the heart is affected by the virus. According to their findings, COVID-19 can weaken overall heart function by attacking and destroying heart muscle cells. 

“Early on in the pandemic, we had evidence that this coronavirus can cause heart failure or cardiac injury in generally healthy people, which was alarming to the cardiology community,” said researcher Dr. Kory J. Lavine. “Even some college athletes who had been cleared to go back to competitive athletics after COVID-19 infection later showed scarring in the heart. There has been debate over whether this is due to direct infection of the heart or due to a systemic inflammatory response that occurs because of the lung infection.

“Our study is unique because it definitively shows that, in patients with COVID-19 who developed heart failure, the virus infects the heart, especially heart muscle cells,” he said. 

How the virus attacks the heart

To better understand what effect COVID-19 has on the heart, the researchers constructed a human heart model out of stem cells and exposed it to the virus. Then, they evaluated the direct impact that it had on overall heart function to determine what many consumers are experiencing after getting infected. 

The researchers learned that COVID-19 significantly impacted heart function. In their model, the heart’s muscle cells were destroyed once the virus reached it, and viral cells replicated and spread. This attack puts a lot of stress on the heart and limits its ability to pump and contract as it normally would. 

Prior to these findings, experts believed that the body’s inflammatory response was to blame for coronavirus-related heart damage. However, this study debunked that myth and showed that heart muscle cells were destroyed and heart function was still impaired regardless of inflammation. 

“COVID-19 is causing a different immune response in the heart compared with other viruses, and we don’t know what that means yet,” said Dr. Lavine. “In general, the immune cells seen responding to other viruses tend to be associated with a relatively short distance that resolves with supportive care. But the immune cells we see in COVID-19 heart patients tend to be associated with a chronic condition that can have long-term consequences. These are associations, so we will need more research to understand what is happening.” 

The researchers hope that the significance of these findings resonates with consumers and health officials.  

“Even young people who had very mild symptoms can develop heart problems later on that limit their exercise capacity,” Dr. Lavine said. “We want to understand what’s happening so we can prevent it or treat it. In the meantime, we want everyone to take this virus seriously and do their best to take precautions and stop the spread, so we don’t have an even larger epidemic of preventable heart disease in the future.” 

General Motors (GM) has announced that it’s extending its plant shutdowns due to the ongoing global semiconductor chip shortage. 

Plants will remain shut down at GM’s car and crossover plants in Kansas, Mexico, and Ontario, Canada. Initially, they were slated to remain closed until mid-March. The San Luis Potosi plant in Mexico will now be shuttered through the end of March, while the U.S. and Canada plants will remain closed until at least mid-April.

The automaker said the move is intended to ensure that there are enough chips to use in the production of its most “in-demand” full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. 

“GM continues to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including full-size trucks and SUVs for our customers,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “GM has not taken downtime or reduced shifts at any of its truck plants due to the shortage.”

Chip shortage affecting automakers’ earnings 

The chip shortage has been blamed on the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has had a major impact on automakers. Last month, GM and Ford announced that they will produce fewer cars and trucks due to the shortage. 

The chip shortage is expected to result in a staggering $60.6 billion revenue loss in the automotive industry as a whole this year, according to estimates from consulting firm AlixPartners. 

Experts said the shortage was caused by the nation’s rapid economic recovery during the pandemic. At the start of the pandemic, semiconductor makers scaled back production in anticipation of a steep drop in demand. 

Demand did decline at first, but the auto industry ended up recovering quickly when consumers adapted to online car shopping and purchases. When auto plants reopened, they quickly ran out of the semiconductor chips. 

Last week, GM’s chief financial officer Paul Jaconbon said the chip shortage is improving. However, the company is still expecting the delays to lower its free cash flow by $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in 2021.

Sam Walton’s promise to “Bring it Home to the USA'' is about to hit new heights at Walmart. On Wednesday, the company announced that its support of American jobs will grow its workforce by 750,000 over the next 10 years as part of a $350 billion investment on items made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. 

The big box retailer’s growth plans are centered on six priority categories: plastics; textiles; small electrical appliances; food processing; pharmaceutical and medical supplies; and Goods Not For Resale (GNFR).

Walmart’s commitment will mean an increase in spending and support for small businesses and diverse suppliers and sellers based in the U.S., and it will provide an opportunity for 9,000 entrepreneurs to become Walmart suppliers and sellers through the company’s annual Open Call events. Environmental concerns will also be addressed through initiatives like lowering CO2 emissions by sourcing closer to the company’s customers. 

“We invite basically ANYONE with a shelf-ready product that supports American jobs to pitch it to us,” John Furner, President & CEO, Walmart U.S. said in the company’s announcement.

Introducing “American Lighthouses”

Furner says Walmart is also launching a concept it calls “American Lighthouses.” That concept’s blueprint calls for the company to identify key stakeholders in specific regions of the country to identify and overcome top-down barriers to U.S. production. 

Once those “lighthouses” are established, the trickle-down intent is that they will bring together participants from the supplier community (including manufacturers and non-governmental organizations) with others from the academic community, government, and local and state economic development groups. 

“By bringing together key regions and various stakeholders, we can make the supply chain more efficient. The aim is to bring U.S. manufacturing back in a sustainable, long-term way,” Furner said.

This has to make the Biden administration happy

Furner is certainly singing to the Biden administration’s choir and the president’s recent executive order aimed at strengthening American manufacturing sector.

“U.S. manufacturing really matters. It matters to our suppliers, to entrepreneurs and to the environment. It matters to our customers - more than 85 percent of which have said it’s important for us to carry products made or assembled in the U.S. And most of all, because of the jobs it brings, it matters to American communities and the people who live in them,” Furner said.

If you feel like internet ads follow you everywhere you go, there may be some good news on the horizon. In a monumental shift, Google is giving tracking technologies the boot, announcing that it plans to stop selling ads based on individuals’ browsing across multiple websites.

It’s undetermined exactly how much cutting that slice out of Google’s ad business will set the company back, but it could be plenty. According to Statista, Google's total ad revenue in 2020 amounted to $146.92 billion spread across its extensive ad network. Nonetheless, the important pro-consumer point here is that Google seems to be more concerned with what it calls an “erosion of trust” from people who venture out online. 

“As our industry has strived to deliver relevant ads to consumers across the web, it has created a proliferation of individual user data across thousands of companies, typically gathered through third-party cookies,” explained David Temkin, Google’s Director of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Trust.

”This has led to an erosion of trust: In fact, 72 percent of people feel that almost all of what they do online is being tracked by advertisers, technology firms or other companies, and 81 percent say that the potential risks they face because of data collection outweigh the benefits, according to a study by Pew Research Center. If digital advertising doesn't evolve to address the growing concerns people have about their privacy and how their personal identity is being used, we risk the future of the free and open web.”

What changes to expect

This change won’t happen overnight, but there is already forward progress. As a precursor to this move, the company announced in late January that it was going to phase out third-party tracking cookies in its Chrome browser. Once third-party cookies are completely phased out, Temkin vowed that Google will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will the company use them in its products.

In its cookieless future, Google wants everything relating to advertising -- targeting, measurement, and fraud prevention -- to be in line with the standards set by its own Privacy Sandbox. If all goes according to plan, cookies will be replaced by application programming interfaces (API) that advertisers will use to gather five unique pieces of data, including how well an ad performed and what platform actually leveraged a purchase out of an ad on its site(s). 

“The most significant item in the Privacy Sandbox is Google’s proposal to move all user data into the browser where it will be stored and processed,” Amit Kotecha, marketing director at data management platform provider Permutive, told Digiday. “This means that data stays on the user’s device and is privacy compliant. This is now table stakes and the gold standard for privacy.”

Google seems to be one of the few companies going in on this new privacy venture; there’s still dozens of digital ad networks that are mum on the subject -- at least for now.

“We realize this means other providers may offer a level of user identity for ad tracking across the web that we will not — like [personally identifiable information] based on people’s email addresses,” Temkin said. 

“We don’t believe these solutions will meet rising consumer expectations for privacy, nor will they stand up to rapidly evolving regulatory restrictions, and therefore aren’t a sustainable long term investment. Instead, our web products will be powered by privacy-preserving APIs which prevent individual tracking while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers.”

With much of the world turning virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, having access to the internet and working computer equipment has been more essential than ever. While disparities in internet access have been a longstanding issue, the pandemic has highlighted how a lack of these services can affect consumers financially. 

According to findings from a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Houston, having consistent access to the internet and an understanding of information technology (IT) skills tends to lead to better job prospects and higher-earning positions. 

“Unemployment and low wages remain pressing societal changes in the wake of increased automation, more so for traditionally disadvantaged groups in the labor market, such as women, minorities, and the elderly,” the team wrote. “However, workers who possess relevant IT skills might have an edge in an increasingly digital economy.” 

Expanding access to internet services

To better understand how internet access and computer skills put consumers in a better economic position, the researchers pulled nearly a decade’s worth of data from a Turkish Statistical Institute survey. Respondents answered questions about their income level, occupation, household internet use, and IT knowledge. 

The survey clearly revealed that participants who had consistent internet access and basic computer skills had an employment advantage. Not only were these participants more qualified for jobs, but they were able to correspond with hiring managers and interview virtually. Ultimately, these factors also led to making more money because participants with the strongest IT skills had the highest salaries. 

This was true even when specific positions didn’t require a working computer knowledge. Employers were more attracted to applicants who had experience with basic things like sending emails or saving files. 

“Very few people can get these skills from their employer,” Pavlou said. “Workers are expected to obtain these IT skills themselves, in order to get a job in the first place. And the less-privileged population they are, the harder time they have obtaining these skills that require computer equipment and internet access.” 

How does the pandemic play a role?

Though these findings looked at earnings and job opportunities prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pavlou and his team believe that the last year of remote working and schooling will undoubtedly impact consumers moving forward. As more and more aspects of our lives become digital, it’s more important than ever for consumers to have access to the internet and the skills to utilize internet-enabled devices. 

“The digital divide is a major societal problem,” said Pavlou. “I think the pandemic will make it even more pronounced. People with basic IT skills will have access to more opportunities, and it is imperative for educational institutions to provide these IT skills, especially in traditionally-disadvantaged populations.” 

Millions of Americans are busy working on their 2020 federal income tax return, hoping for a nice refund. If you signed up for a rewards credit card last year, you may have some easy-to-overlook income that needs to be reported.

In most cases, the rewards you earn on your credit card are not taxable income, but in a few cases they are. The cashback you get through the normal use of your credit card is not taxable. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers that a rebate -- a discount on the price you paid.

But sometimes credit card companies give new account holders some points upfront just for opening a new account. Since you didn’t have to spend any money to receive those points, the experts at CardRatings.com say that is income that should be reported.

Alternatively, you might not be getting a refund -- maybe you owe the government some money. What about paying your taxes with a rewards credit card? Is that ever a good idea? The experts at CardRatings say it can be, though the practice has pros and cons.

On one hand, paying a hefty tax bill with a cashback credit card can earn a nice reward, but there can be a downside. Industry specialists say the payment to the IRS can carry fees that could easily offset any rewards you might gain.

Look out for transaction fees

"Paying taxes with a credit card will incur a transaction fee and in 2021 that fee ranges from 1.96 to 1.99 percent of the amount paid, depending on the service that is used," said Brooklyn Lowery, CardRatings' senior managing editor and credit card expert. "Paying that fee to earn just 1 percent back likely isn't wise, but paying the bill and earning a good-sized signup bonus that will be worth more than the fee when redeeming the rewards is perhaps worth considering."

Using the right credit card to pay the IRS is a key consideration. For example, if you’ve just signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you need to spend $4,000 in the first three months in order to qualify for the sign-up bonus. A large tax bill could help you get there under the deadline.

If the Discover It Cash Back card is a new addition to your wallet, keep in mind that Discover matches all the cash-back earned during the first year as a cardholder. Again, a significant tax bill could generate substantial cashback that will be matched at the end of the first year.

If you have a Capital One Venture Rewards card, it may also be a good choice for paying taxes. The card gives account holders two miles for every $1 spent on all purchases, meaning at least 2 percent back on the tax bill. If you’re a new customer, you can earn a welcome bonus by spending $3,000 in the first three months the account is open.

Using the right credit card could make paying taxes a little less painful and a little more rewarding.

El Abuelito Cheese of Paterson, N.J., is recalling all fresh cheese products (queso fresco, soft).

The product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The CDC reports seven people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes in four states.

The list of the recalled products, with expiration dates through March 28, 2021, may be found here.

The Grandpa (El Abuelito) Cheese brand was sold in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York; the Rio Grande products were sold in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland; and Río Lindo was sold in North Carolina and Maryland.

The recalled products were sold in supermarkets, wholesale stores and retailers until February 16, 2021.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products listed should not consume them, but return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Consumers with questions may contact El Abuelito at (973) 345-3503, Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm (EST) and Saturday from 8 am to 12 pm (EST).

Ford Motor Company is recalling 106 model year 2021 Bronco Sport vehicles.

The vehicles may have been produced with incorrect front lower control arms.

An incorrect lower control arm may affect vehicle handling and control, increasing the risk of a rollover crash.

What to do

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the front lower control arms -- if necessary -- free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin April 5, 2021.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 21S03.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 41,838 model year 2020-2021 GLE450s & GLE350s, and model 2020 GLS450s, GLE580s & GLS580s.

During certain evasive driving maneuvers, the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) software may apply torque to one of the front wheels, pulling the vehicle to one side.

The vehicle unexpectedly pulling to one side during an evasive maneuver can increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

MBUSA will notify owners, and dealers will update the ESP software free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin April 13, 2021.

Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at (800) 367-6372.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 28,669,232 (28,609,645)

Total U.S. deaths: 514,842 (513,112)

Total global cases: 114,582,356 (114,240,823)

Total global deaths: 2,541,808 (2,533,323)

Merck will produce Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine

Emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has provided some much-needed ammunition in the war to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Now, that ammunition supply is being increased.

President Biden announced today that Merck will help its rival drugmaker produce additional supplies of the vaccine. Johnson & Johnson already has 3 million doses on hand that are in the process of being distributed to states.

Health officials are enthusiastic about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because its simpler logistics may make the vaccine rollout go more smoothly. It requires only a single shot and can be kept in a refrigerator for up to three months.

Retail pharmacies see big benefit in administering vaccine

Retail pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS are already firmly engaged in the COVID-19 vaccination program. While they don’t stand to make much money giving shots, The Wall Street Journal reports that they will likely benefit in other ways.

The companies are collecting data from their customers who sign up for vaccination appointments. The patients will be enrolled in their system and will register customer profiles. That information will likely be used to market products and services.

“Every one of these customers is coming through our digital front end, so we have their email, we have their text message, and we have the ability to communicate with them regularly,” Jonathan Roberts, CVS’ chief operating officer, told The Journal.

No early end to chip shortage

Officials say the shortage of computer chips, caused by the pandemic, will likely exist throughout 2021 because of the long lead-time required to produce semiconductors.

The shortage was caused by a surge in demand for computers and tablets when adults began working remotely and children began attending classes online. The shortage has mostly affected the auto industry, which canceled orders early in the pandemic only to see car sales unexpectedly increase.

President Biden has asked his economic and national security teams to work together to determine where gaps exist in the supply chain and how they can be closed.

Health experts say we aren’t out of the woods just yet

Health experts say they’re pleased that new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have trended sharply lower in the U.S. in recent weeks, but they’re warning that precautions still need to be taken by the public. And, right on cue, cases ticked up this week.

Newly reported COVID-19 cases totaled 58,812 on Monday, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That was higher than the 58,204 cases reported on Sunday but is significantly lower than January’s spike.

There were more than 1,500 U.S. deaths on Monday that were linked to the virus -- significantly higher than the 1,007 reported on Sunday. However, hospitalizations continue to trend lower. 

Tobacco and alcohol sales rose during the pandemic

Americans increasingly found solace in their vices during the early days of the pandemic. Alcohol and tobacco sales nationwide rose in the early months of COVID-19, according to a study appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine today. 

From April to June 2020, researchers found that sales of alcohol increased 34 percent and tobacco product sales jumped by 13 percent when compared to the same months in 2019.

“These are significant jumps, and show that the stress, boredom, and loneliness caused by the pandemic may have led to increased alcohol and tobacco use,” said Brian P. Lee, MD, MAS, a hepatologist and liver transplant specialist with Keck Medicine and the USC Institute for Addiction Science, and lead author of the study.

Around the nation

• Vermont: Vermont may be one step closer to “normal.” Some state workers have been given the all-clear sign and told they can return to the office. But that return is at least a month away, with most employees working remotely until at least May.
• Kentucky: Residents and property were threatened when floodwaters recently rose in Kentucky, but the flood also threatened a large batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses in Lee County. Gov. Andy Beshear praised rescuers who used boats to move the precious commodity to safety.
• Iowa: The state is preparing to receive more than 25,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and already has a plan to distribute them. The Iowa Department of Public Health will dedicate those doses specifically to frontline workers working and living in congregate settings.

The case for giving the U.S. airline industry another serious shot in the arm was made on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. In testimony made to lawmakers, Nicholas E. Calio, President and CEO of Airlines for America (A4A), minced no words in asking for a third round of government assistance. 

“We are still struggling and in dire straits,” he told the House Transportation and Infrastructure’s aviation subcommittee. “We were hoping it would be better by now.”

The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that the U.S. House of Representatives approved last week includes a new infusion of $14 billion for passenger airlines to keep workers on payrolls for an additional six months. Calio says that $14 billion will help, but he warned the committee that tens of thousands of aviation workers will “lose their jobs — or experience reductions to wages and benefits — effective April 1” if a new round of assistance isn’t approved. 

Congress steps up for a third time, but will it again?

If the Senate rubber-stamps passage of the supplemental aid, it will be the third time Congress has come to the aid of airlines, airports, and aviation contractors. To date, Congress has made nearly $90 billion in assistance and loans available, including two previous rounds of payroll assistance amounting to $40 billion.

Joining Calio was Joseph DePete, president of the Air Line Pilots Association. He echoed Calio’s sentiment, telling committee members that “dismal long-term booking commitments and the near absence of business travel demand is leaving some carriers with too little certainty to reactivate and retrain furloughed or otherwise inactive pilots.”

According to testimony seen by Reuters, Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR), chair of the Transportation committee, said he is “hoping by September 30 we are not going to need another extension” of airline payroll assistance.

From bad to worse

Adding to Calio’s and DePete’s warnings, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that passenger traffic fell in January 2021, not only compared to pre-pandemic levels (January 2019) but also compared to the immediate month prior (December 2020).

Domestic travel took quite a punch, dropping by 47.4 percent year-over-year. However, the impact was really felt on the international level, where passenger demand in January was 85.6 percent below January 2019.

“2021 is starting off worse than 2020 ended and that is saying a lot. Even as vaccination programs gather pace, new COVID variants are leading governments to increase travel restrictions. The uncertainty around how long these restrictions will last also has an impact on future travel. Forward bookings in February this year for the Northern Hemisphere summer travel season were 78 percent below levels in February 2019,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

De Juniac parroted the need for government financial support, but he said the real keys for governments to unlock economic activity -- including travel -- are increased testing capability and vaccine distribution. 

“It is critical that governments build and share their restart plans along with the benchmarks that will guide them. This will enable the industry to be prepared to energize the recovery without any unnecessary delay,” the executive said.

Smartphone addiction affects nearly 40 percent of college students, according to a study published Tuesday in Frontiers and Psychiatry. Researchers say that means just as many young adults may be suffering from poor quality or insufficient sleep. 

For the study, researchers asked 1,043 students between the ages of 18 and 30 at King's College London to complete two questionnaires about their sleep quality and smartphone usage. The findings revealed that around 40 percent of the students could be classified as “addicted” to smartphones -- and those students were more likely to report poor sleep quality. 

More than two-thirds (68.7 percent) of students who were defined as smartphone addicts had trouble sleeping, compared with 57.1 percent of those who were not addicted to their device. Those most likely to exhibit addictive behaviors surrounding smartphone usage were those who used their phone after midnight or for four or more hours during the day. 

“Our study provides further support to the growing body of evidence that smartphone ‘addiction’ has a negative impact on sleep”, said Dr Ben Carter, a co-author of the paper and senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience at King’s. “The association is still significant even after adjusting for daily screen time use.”

The study found that people who put down their device more than a hour before they went to sleep were less likely to display an addictive relationship with their phone. 

“Of those that stopped using their device more than an hour before bedtime, 23.8% exhibited addiction, compared to 42% of those stopping less than 30 minutes before bedtime,” the study authors wrote.

Establishing good sleep habits

Because sleep has such strong ties to mental health problems, the researchers say it’s important for young people to create and stick to a good sleep routine. 

“The negative impact of smartphone use on sleep is very concerning from a mental health perspective,” said Dr Bernadka Dubicka, the chair of the faculty of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. “Many young people have struggled with their sleep and mental health during this pandemic and poor quality or insufficient sleep can be both a symptom and a cause of mental health problems.” 

Avoiding smartphone usage -- or any LED spectrum light source -- before bed can help keep melatonin levels (often referred to as the “sleep hormone”) where they should be prior to sleep. 

“Keeping a good sleep routine is vital for young people’s health and wellbeing and young people should try to limit their smartphone use late at night, for example, by charging their phone in a different room to their bedroom,” Dubicka said. 

President Joe Biden is set to announce Tuesday that Merck will help make Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, the Washington Post reported. 

The partnership between the rival pharmaceutical giants is expected to help boost vaccine supply and expedite the distribution process during a time of concern about the emergence of new variants. 

“It’s a historic partnership,” said an administration official, according to the Post. The official added that the competitors “recognize this is a wartime effort” and praised their sense of “corporate citizenship.”

Ramping up production 

Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot COVID-19 vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA over the weekend. Now, Merck has reportedly agreed to dedicate two U.S. facilities to manufacturing Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines. 

Vaccines will be made at one of the facilities. At the other, “fill-finish” services -- the last stage of the production process -- will be carried out. The official said the collaboration could lead to a significant bump in vaccine supply. 

"Tune in for the President’s remarks on this — and more — later this afternoon," White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted.

Johnson & Johnson is expected to produce 100 million doses of its vaccine by the end of June. Merck is not producing its own vaccine but has said it “remains steadfast in our commitment to contribute to the global response to the pandemic.''

Twitter is continuing to take a hard line against misinformation. On top of its monitoring of false claims about COVID-19 in general, the company announced on Monday that it will also start flagging tweets that may contain misleading information specifically about COVID-19 vaccines. To date, Twitter claims to have removed more than 8,400 tweets and challenged 11.5 million accounts since it began its crusade against pandemic-related misinformation.

The social media platform’s new enforcement system is strike-based. The first strike is basically a warning and doesn’t affect a user’s account, but two and three strikes earn a user a 12-hour account lock; four strikes brings on a 7-day lock; and five or more strikes will get a user a permanent suspension.

“Through the use of the strike system, we hope to educate people on why certain content breaks our rules so they have the opportunity to further consider their behavior and their impact on the public conversation,” the company said in announcing the new system.

Twitter’s criteria

The new strike system is similar to Twitter's recent update to its Civic Integrity Policy, which first made news when the company flagged former president Donald Trump for tweets that may have misled people into thinking they don’t need to register to get a ballot.

When it comes to Twitter’s overall COVID-19 misleading information policy, it already has well-defined criteria for labeling what it considers a misleading tweet. With the new vaccine-specific rules, Twitter says it will also “label or remove false or misleading information about” the following:

• “COVID-19 vaccines that invoke a deliberate conspiracy by malicious and/or powerful forces;”

• “Adverse impacts or effects of receiving vaccinations, where these claims have been widely debunked;”

• “Vaccines and vaccination programs which suggest that COVID-19 vaccinations are part of a deliberate or intentional attempt to cause harm or control populations;” and

• “How vaccines are developed, tested, and approved by official health agencies as well as information about government recommendations.”

When Twitter identifies a tweet as “misleading,” it will label it as such and, alongside the label,  include links to relevant information from official agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or Twitter’s rules regarding why the tweet was flagged.

While many in the Big Tech brotherhood use artificial intelligence to scan for misinformation and hate speech, Twitter says that labels will first be applied by its team members when they determine content violates its COVID-19 vaccine misinformation rules. In turn, those assessments will be added to its automated tools so that those tools become more effective in guarding against out-of-line tweets. 

Swedish automaker Volvo is stepping up its shift to electric vehicles, announcing that its entire fleet will be battery-powered by 2030. It’s the latest carmaker to make such a commitment. General Motors has said all its cars will be electric by 2035, and Ford recently announced the goal of being fully electric in Europe by 2030.

Volvo said it is already phasing out gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles and will even end production of hybrids, which use a small gasoline engine to recharge the battery. The company's transition towards becoming a fully electric car maker -- as well as the electrification of the industry -- is based on the belief that consumers will embrace the technology.

Volvo said the move is also based on the expectation that governments around the world will require it, but a report last year from J.D. Power warned automakers they may be getting ahead of consumer sentiment.

Consumers may require some convincing

Citing its Mobility Confidence Index Study, J.D. Power found that consumers have little interest in either electric or self-driving automobiles. American and Canadian consumers cited the availability of charging stations, vehicle driving range, and purchase price as the top three barriers to adoption.

The report notes that there are thousands more charging stations than there were in 1997, when the report first began measuring consumer attitudes about electric vehicles. Volvo said it believes the continued expansion of charging infrastructure will accelerate consumer acceptance of fully electric cars.

Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson said the company believes fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine will find less appeal to consumers in the future.

"To remain successful, we need profitable growth,” Samuelsson said. “So instead of investing in a shrinking business, we choose to invest in the future – electric and online." 

Online sales spike during the pandemic

Online sales got a huge boost over the last 12 months as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic quickly altered the way car dealers sold vehicles, and that trend appears to be permanent. The company said its all-electric models will only be available for purchase online.

Volvo is relatively new to the all-electric game. It launched its first fully electric car, the XC40 Recharge, in markets around the world last year. The company said it is ready to introduce its second fully electric car, a new model in the 40 Series.

A new study conducted by researchers from Ohio State University has found that kids’ motivation to perform well in school may not be set in stone. 

According to their findings, high school students are particularly susceptible to building motivation as they get older. The researchers also found that students can develop stronger motivational skills if they have a strong sense of belonging at school and within their groups of friends.

“Our results point to a more hopeful picture for students who start out with lower levels of motivation -- they tend to shift toward more adaptive profiles with better motivational characteristics over time,” said researcher Kui Xie. 

Building motivation

For the purposes of the study, the researchers followed more than 1,600 high school students for two school years. Each year of the study, the participants completed surveys that assessed both their motivation and their perceived sense of belonging in school. The researchers compared their results with motivational profiles to see what trends emerged among the participants. 

Ultimately, they learned that many of the students were capable of changing their motivational styles. Although some started out the survey with a very poor motivation to perform academically, changes occurred in 40 and 77 percent of the students over time. It’s also important to note that kids who were inherently motivated at the start of the study were likely to maintain their motivation long-term. 

The team found that more time in high school led to fewer kids in the least motivated category, and the percentage of students who were self-motivated increased over the course of the study. The researchers attribute this to several different factors. They theorized that many students feel motivated by the idea of getting into a good college; others like the feeling of getting good grades and are pushed to keep excelling. Others adopted more motivation as they felt a greater sense of belonging among their peers. 

“This may be one area where we can help students become more motivated,” said Xie. “Belongingness is something schools can change. They can find ways to help students feel like they are a part of the school community.” 

As school officials think about ways to keep kids engaged and focused, the researchers hope that these findings come into play. Motivation doesn’t have to be fixed and rigid, and kids are likely to adapt to several different approaches. 

“When we design interventions, we should think about gradually shifting students to more adaptive profiles,” said Xie. “We need to tailor the motivation strategies to specific profiles. There is no one universal strategy that will work for all groups.” 

Consistently eating fruits and vegetables has been found to benefit consumers’ physical and mental health. Now, researchers from the American Heart Association are investigating how these staples can affect life expectancy. 

According to their findings, eating the right combination of fruits and vegetables can lead to a longer life. The team found that having three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit each day was associated with the best health outcomes. 

“While groups like the American Heart Association recommend four to five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, consumers likely get inconsistent messages about what defines optimal daily intake of fruits and vegetables such as the recommended amount, and which foods to include and avoid,” said researcher Dr. Dong. D. Wang. 

Health benefits of fruits and vegetables

The researchers compared information from several different datasets for the study. They looked at data from more than 100,000 participants enrolled in the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study, which tracked both diet and health outcomes for more than three decades. They also compared those results with data from 26 earlier studies to determine how fruits and vegetables contributed to overall health and longevity. 

The team learned that eating five servings of fruits and vegetables was associated with the best health outcomes; however, different combinations of these healthier options yielded different results. For instance, breaking up the portions to include two servings of fruits and three of vegetables each day was linked with the best outcomes. 

Consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables in any capacity lowered the participants’ risk of death and disease. The study found that hitting that benchmark each day lowered participants’ risk of death from cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease. 

“This amount [of fruits and vegetables] likely offers the most benefits in terms of prevention of major chronic disease and is a relatively achievable intake for the general public,” said Dr. Wang. “We also found that not all fruits and vegetables offer the same degree of benefit, even though current dietary recommendations generally treat all types of fruits and vegetables, including starchy vegetables, fruit juices, and potatoes, the same.” 

Leafy greens and citrus fruits are the best

The researchers found that not all fruits and vegetables yielded the same health benefits. Starchy vegetables or sugary fruit juices didn’t produce any of the protective health benefits that came from leafy greens or citrus fruits.

Moving forward, the team hopes that consumers get creative at mealtimes and look for new ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into their diets. 

“This research provides strong evidence for the lifelong benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, and suggests a goal amount to consume daily for ideal health,” said researcher Dr. Anne Thorndike. “Fruits and vegetables are naturally packaged sources of nutrients that can be included in most meals and snacks, and they are essential for keeping our hearts and bodies healthy.” 

Obesity may weaken the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, new data suggests. 

A team of researchers in Rome found that obese people who had received two doses of the vaccine produced only about half the number of antibodies in response. The scientists defined “obese” as having a body mass index (BMI) over 30. 

The study looked at the effect of the vaccine on 248 health care workers seven days after they had received their final dose. Among those people, 99.5 percent developed an antibody response. However, the number of antibodies generated was hampered in people who were overweight and obsese. 

“Since obesity is a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality for patients with Covid-19, it is mandatory to plan an efficient vaccination programme in this subgroup,” wrote researcher Aldo Venuti. 

Venuti and his colleagues said more research is needed to determine whether overweight and obese people may require a different vaccination strategy, such as an additional booster dose or a stronger dose.

“Although further studies are needed, this data may have important implications to the development of vaccination strategies for COVID-19, particularly in obese people. If our data was to be confirmed by larger studies, giving obese people an extra dose of the vaccine or a higher dose could be options to be evaluated in this population.”

Studying the impact of obesity

An earlier study found that obesity can raise the risk of dying after contracting COVID-19 by nearly 50 percent. Obesity has also been found to increase the risk of being hospitalized due to the virus by 113 percent. 

Experts have pointed out that a key limitation of the current study is its small sample size. 

"We always knew that BMI was an enormous predictor of poor immune response to vaccines, so this paper is definitely interesting, although it is based on a rather small preliminary dataset," Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London, told The Guardian. "It confirms that having a vaccinated population isn’t synonymous with having an immune population, especially in a country with high obesity, and emphasises the vital need for long-term immune monitoring programmes."

The report was published on the pre-print server Medrviv and has not yet been peer reviewed.