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Covid-19 Oversight News: Coronavirus Variants, the Surge in Michigan, and J&J Vaccine Supplies
In this email:
* Coronavirus Variants
* Johnson & Johnson Drops Pledge
* Trump Administration Political Interference


American Oversight’s Covid-19 Oversight Hub ([link removed]) provides news and policy resources to help you keep track of the investigations into the government’s pandemic response. The project brings together a public documents database, an oversight tracker of important ongoing investigations and litigation, regular news updates, and deeper dives into key issues.

Congressional Hearings
* Wed., April 14: The Senate Indian Affairs Committee will hold a hearing ([link removed]) examining the coronavirus response in Native communities.
* Wed., April 14: The Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing ([link removed]) to discuss initial pandemic response and preparedness. Former top officials from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Homeland Security will testify.
* Wed., April 14: The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing ([link removed]) to examine the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the coronavirus. Acting FEMA Administrator Robert Fenton will testify.
* Thurs., April 15: The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis will hold a hearing ([link removed]) at which Dr. Anthony Fauci, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and HHS Chief Science Officer David Kessler will testify.
* Thurs., April 15: The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing ([link removed]) on oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. BOP Director Michael Carvajal will testify.


Coronavirus Variants
Although Covid-19 case numbers remain far below previous peaks, most states are still reporting ([link removed]) a steady daily number. Last week, the CDC announced that most Covid-19 cases in the U.S. are now caused by the B117 variant ([link removed]) , a more contagious strain that was first identified in Britain. CDC data indicates that other variants ([link removed]) , including one that was first found in Brazil, are also spreading around the country.

The Pandemic’s Disproportionate Impacts
Data presented by the New York Times illustrates how the virus has disproportionately impacted those in prisons ([link removed]) : While 9 percent of Americans have had the coronavirus, that figure jumps to 34 percent for people in U.S. prisons. And last week, JAMA Pediatrics published a new study that estimates that nearly 40,000 children ([link removed]) in the U.S. have lost a parent to Covid-19, with Black children disproportionately affected.

In the States
* Michigan is reporting thousands of Covid-19 cases ([link removed]) a day, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has stated she won’t issue new restrictions. Whitmer has asked ([link removed]) the Biden administration to ramp up the state’s vaccine supply; administration officials have said that for now, they will continue allocating vaccines ([link removed]) primarily by population.
* Last week, federal officials said the government won’t mandate ([link removed]) that individuals show a proof of vaccination, colloquially known as a vaccine passport, to access certain activities as the country reopens. But states are adopting diverging approaches. Both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have prohibited ([link removed]) vaccine passports, and bills banning the practice are gaining traction ([link removed]) in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, and Kentucky. Other states, like New York ([link removed]) and Hawaii
([link removed]) , are choosing to adopt some form of a passport program.
* On Thursday, Florida filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) challenging existing HHS and CDC regulation of the cruise ship industry. DeSantis said the government doesn’t have the right to “mothball” an entire industry, but DeSantis’ own prohibition ([link removed]) against businesses requiring vaccine passports has created a hurdle for cruise lines that mandate proof of vaccination in their safety plans. Meanwhile, troubling trends in Florida’s long-term care facilities indicate that staffers account for more infections ([link removed]) than residents.


Johnson & Johnson Drops Pledge
Last week, Johnson & Johnson said it won’t be able to meet its pledge to deliver 24 million doses ([link removed]) of its vaccine to the U.S. by the end of April, and states are seeing their expected supplies of that vaccine drop dramatically as a result. Thus far, only 5 million Johnson & Johnson doses have been administered, compared with 170 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Pfizer has requested ([link removed]) that the Food and Drug Administration expand emergency use authorization of its vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 15.

The supply update comes after more than 15 million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses were contaminated at Emergent BioSolutions’ Baltimore plant, rendering them useless. According to recent reporting, top Trump and Biden officials were aware that this plant had problems retaining skilled staff ([link removed]) that would make it difficult to quickly produce vaccines. Previous investigations ([link removed]) had also found that the plant fell short in efforts to disinfect and prevent contamination, and it had even discarded contaminated doses of vaccines in the fall and winter.

Trump Administration Political Interference
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released documents ([link removed]) illustrating the Trump administration's political interference in the pandemic response. The documents included communications in which officials bragged about influencing the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, attacked CDC guidance for schools and universities, and promoted a "herd immunity" strategy for combating the virus. In the communications, members of the Trump administration often used personal email accounts for government work.

Trump Administration Private-Sector Influence
Recently released public records have also provided more information about the influence of the private sector over Trump administration officials. Last week, Mother Jones reported ([link removed]) on documents from April 2020 in which representatives of JPMorgan Chase requested changes to government lending programs and suggested ways the government could support bailouts for the oil and gas industry. Also last week, American Oversight published documents ([link removed]) showing Jared Kushner’s and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s conversations with private-sector representatives during the early months of the pandemic.

Oversight of the Federal Pandemic Response
* The Government Accountability Office added ([link removed]) emergency loan programs for small businesses, including the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan, to its “2021 High-Risk List.” The list focuses on “government operations with greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement.” The addition came after GAO found deficiencies ([link removed]) in the oversight of these programs, including incomplete loan reviews and recordkeeping, and insufficient oversight plans within the Small Business Administration.
* The SBA Inspector General (OIG) published a report ([link removed]) detailing problems with the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, which was created to support venues impacted by the pandemic. The OIG recommended that SBA strengthen existing controls and implement additional internal controls to address the potential misuse of federal funds.


Congressional Investigations
* Investigating the Trump Administration’s Pandemic Response: In light of documents ([link removed]) that showed Trump administration officials had celebrated their interference with CDC scientific reports, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis wrote to Paul Alexander ([link removed]) (former HHS senior adviser), Scott Atlas ([link removed]) (former special adviser to the president), and Steven Hatfill ([link removed]) (former adviser to Assistant to the President Peter Navarro) requesting documents
and transcribed interviews regarding their roles in the pandemic response.
* Helping Unemployed Workers Maintain Health Insurance: Several House and Senate committees wrote to ([link removed]) HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra urging him to establish a special enrollment period for Affordable Care Act coverage following the end of a key subsidy in the recently passed American Rescue Plan Act.
* Georgia Covid-19 Nursing Home Data: Sen. Raphael Warnock and Rep. Hank Johnson Jr. wrote to ([link removed]) HHS Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi Grimm expressing concern about inconsistencies in data reported to the federal government by dozens of Georgia nursing homes. Warnock and Johnson noted that hundreds of nursing home deaths may not have been included in data collected and published by the CDC and asked the inspector general to include these inconsistencies in its ongoing oversight and audit of coronavirus data collection.

To find out more about our work, you can follow us on Twitter at @WeAreOversight ([link removed]) and @ojocorrupcion ([link removed]) , or like us on Facebook ([link removed]) . If you are able, please consider supporting our work with a contribution here ([link removed]) .

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Thank you again for following our latest news. We are grateful for your support and for helping us hold the administration accountable.

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