THE VARIANT FORMERLY KNOWN AS B.1.351? The World Health Organization is drawing up new lingo for Covid-19 variants first found in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Brazil that present new challenges to officials working to curb spread and vaccinate millions, Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 Technical Lead for the World Health Organization, said Monday. “We're working on the nomenclature. It's too confusing with these variant names. I am on record multiple times to say we need to fix this because it's too hard to communicate all these numbers,” Van Kerkhove said during a CSIS event about the variants. Those strains could dominate future news. Vaccines appear to be less effective against the one found in South Africa; meanwhile the strain found in Brazil raises the specter of reinfection. And British officials say the strain that surged there — now found across the U.S. — is more transmissible and possibly more deadly. Health experts have long warned that the virus will adapt and spread, but these variants present big challenges at a crucial juncture in the race to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people across the world. It leaves federal health officials resorting to basic measures like mask-wearing, reinforcing social distancing rules and urging against travel. You’re forgiven if this talk feels like déjà vu: Health officials know it too. “People are fatigued. That's the other major global challenge we have right now,” said Van Kerkhove. “People are tired, they want this to be over. I do too...But this virus is not sick of us.” These measures might be the best we have. Vaccine makers are hard at work to develop booster shots aimed at new variants and possibly multi-valiant vaccines that, much like flu shots, tackle multiple strains. In the meantime, public health measures are still the best shot according to multiple experts and health officials. But it’s easier said than done. “We’re really good at pumping the brakes after we’ve wrapped the car around the tree,” Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease expert who advised Biden on the pandemic during the transition, told POLITICO Friday. A PLEA TO PROVIDERS: STOP STOCKPILING VACCINE--The Biden administration is advising health care providers across the country against holding back doses of Covid-19 vaccines, amid reports that hospitals are reserving limited supply to ensure that patients receive second doses, Brianna Ehley writes. Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to the White House's Covid response team, said during Monday’s White House Covid-19 briefing that providers should be confident that there will be a steady supply of doses and that stockpiling "does not need to happen and should not happen." Slavitt's remarks come as the Biden team tries to accelerate the pace of vaccinations and get a better hold on the whereabouts of roughly 19 million doses that were shipped but not yet administered. Roughly 50 million vaccine doses have been delivered but just 31 million have been given out so far. Slavitt said the distribution effort created a backlog of doses that have been sitting in states. He said that issue was also exacerbated by inconsistent information states had previously been receiving from the federal government about how much vaccine they would receive each week. BIONTECH TARGETS 2 BILLION VACCINE DOSES IN 2021 — Pfizer’s German partner BioNTech said Monday it plans to make 2 billion doses of its coronavirus vaccine in 2021 due to upgrades at a Pfizer production facility in Belgium. That adds to manufacturing at its German plant and a growing number of partners in its European manufacturing network, David Lim writes. “[W]e will supply the full quantity of vaccine doses in the first quarter we contractually committed to and up to an additional 75 million doses to the European Union in the second quarter,” BioNTech’s SEC filing states. BIDEN ADMIN SIGNS $232 MILLION DEAL FOR ELLUME TESTS — HHS and the Defense Department announced Monday the federal government will spend $231.8 million to acquire 8.5 million over-the-counter, at-home coronavirus tests from Ellume and establish domestic manufacturing of the rapid tests. “Making easier to use tests available to every American is a high priority with obvious benefits,” Slavitt said during the White House briefing. “The ability to quickly test, to contact trace and quarantine is a linchpin of our national strategy and will be a vital part of containing the virus and stopping community spread,” he added. This has been in the making for months. Former HHS testing czar Brett Giroir told POLITICO the government spent months negotiating with Ellume — in part because the department decided it wanted to buy tests, not just invest in domestic manufacturing capacity. The goal of federally procuring Ellume's test, he said, was part of an effort to ensure that not just Americans that could afford the approximately $30 test would have access to it. It is unclear when exactly the 8.5 million new tests will be delivered, but Ellume said it will be “prioritizing” the partnership with the U.S. government, David writes. | 
