Evening Briefing: F.D.A. plans new warning on Johnson & Johnson vaccine

July 12, 2021

By Victoria Shannon

Briefings, Newsdesk

Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Monday.

A man waited to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Grand Central Terminal in New York in May.James Estrin/The New York Times

1. The F.D.A. will attach a warning to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Federal regulators concluded that the risk of developing the neurological condition known as Guillain-Barré syndrome from the vaccine was very low, and that the benefits of the vaccine still strongly outweigh it.

Officials identified roughly 100 cases among nearly 13 million recipients in the U.S., but it was another setback for a shot that has largely been sidelined in the country. Millions of doses that have been distributed by the federal government are sitting unused and will expire this summer.

In England, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set on lifting almost all virus-related restrictions next week despite a surge in cases. Britain is recording about 30,000 new coronavirus cases a day.

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Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Florida-based doctor, was arrested in Haiti.

2. The Florida-based doctor officials named as a suspect in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti said he was "sent by God" to replace Moïse.

A university professor told The Times that the doctor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, outlined his political ambitions in an hourlong meeting in June. "He said the president would be resigning soon. He didn't say why," said Michel Plancher, who teaches civil engineering at Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince. "He seemed a bit crazy." Haitian officials have placed Dr. Sanon, 63, at the center of their investigation.

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A team of U.S. officials returned from Haiti and briefed President Biden. It appeared they had few answers. "What was clear from their trip is that there is a lack of clarity about the future of political leadership," the White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said.

Separately, Mr. Biden called on the Cuban government to heed the demands of a protest movement — the largest there in decades — for reliable food, medicine and power supplies. Cuba's president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, called the demonstrations part of an underhanded campaign by Washington to exploit peoples' "emotions."

Demonstrators gathered in Austin, Texas, last week to oppose a sweeping legislative agenda placing new barriers to the right to vote.Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images

3. Texas Democrats left the state in a last-ditch attempt to block passage of a voting bill.

An official involved said more than 51 of the 67 State House Democrats members had signed on for the two chartered flights from Austin to Washington. That was enough to prevent Texas Republicans from attaining a quorum.

The move was meant to highlight G.O.P. voting restrictions as well as apply pressure on Congress to pass federal legislation. But it also highlighted their limited options in a legislature where the Republicans hold the majority.

"It's just delaying the inevitable," said Briscoe Cain, a Republican who chairs the state's House Elections Committee.

Students at a summer program in New York this month. Nearly nine in 10 children will qualify for the monthly payments under an expanded child tax credit.Jose A. Alvarado Jr. for The New York Times

4. Families with children will soon receive up to $300 a month per child.

The payments are thanks to a temporary increase in the child tax credit that its advocates hope to extend. All but the most affluent families are eligible to receive the money, which experts estimate will cut child poverty by nearly half.

The government is uncertain how to get the payments to millions of hard-to-reach families. Opponents of the effort will be watching for delivery glitches, examples of waste or signs that the money erodes the desire of some parents to work. But compared with past aid debates, opposition so far has been muted.

The program, created as part of the stimulus bill that Democrats passed over unified Republican opposition in March, expires in a year.

Toxic PFAS foam, caused by chemicals used in fracking, in Oscoda Township, Mich.Jake May/The Flint Journal, via Associated Press

5. Fracking companies are allowed to pump chemicals into the ground that can become toxic.

The E.P.A. in 2011 approved the use of these chemicals, used to ease the flow of oil from the ground, despite the agency's own grave concerns about their toxicity, according to agency documents reviewed by The Times.

For much of the past decade, oil companies engaged in drilling and fracking have been allowed to use the chemicals, which, over time, can break down into toxic substances known as PFAS — a class of long-lasting compounds known as "forever chemicals" that pose a threat to people and wildlife.

"The E.P.A. identified serious health risks associated with chemicals proposed for use in oil and gas extraction, and yet allowed those chemicals to be used commercially with very lax regulation," said Dusty Horwitt, a researcher at Physicians for Social Responsibility.

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The Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, in Doyle, Calif., on Saturday.Noah Berger/Associated Press

6. The scorching temperatures from the West's third heat wave of the summer began to ease slightly today.

Over the weekend, more than 30 million people across California, Nevada, Utah and other Western states endured excessive heat warnings and advisories. Warnings of dangerous conditions continued in many places, with more in the forecast.

The heat, compounding drought conditions deepened by climate change, fueled a megafire that forced evacuations over the weekend in Klamath County, Ore., and threatened the electrical power grid that connects Oregon and California.

Janet Yellen arrived in Brussels on Monday to press for a global minimum tax.Virginia Mayo/Associated Press

7. E.U. officials agreed to postpone a proposal for a digital tax that could disproportionately hit American companies.

The delay is a diplomatic victory for the U.S. after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Brussels to pressure the E.U. over the plan. It also removes a potential obstacle to a broader tax agreement that would usher in a global minimum tax of at least 15 percent.

Back in Silicon Valley, investors are increasingly seeing so-called creators — often young digital natives who are trying to make money from a social media audience — as the next internet vein to be tapped.

But the venture funds appear more interested in the digital tools and platforms creators use than in the creators themselves.

One of the reflecting pools at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.Vincent Tullo for The New York Times

8. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York has dropped plans for exhibitions commemorating the attack's 20th anniversary this fall.

The reduction came after a severe budget crisis forced the nonprofit museum to make cuts that included furloughs and layoffs affecting around 60 percent of its staff. More than half of the exhibitions department was laid off.

The museum is largely dependent on ticket sales; its temporary closure and limited capacity left the institution with an $18 million deficit last year. But the museum is hoping to end 2021 with a positive cash balance through a combination of fund-raising, admission revenue and a federal loan.

England's manager, Gareth Southgate, consoled Bukayo Saka after the team's loss.Carl Recine/Pool, via Reuters

9. Britain is dealing with an eruption of racism after its team's loss in the European soccer championship.

The social media bigotry, directed at three Black players who missed penalty kicks in the Euro 2020 final, was condemned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and many others.

The England players have been kneeling before games to protest racial injustice. This year, England's top league participated in a social media blackout to pressure social media companies to take action against abuse.

In other soccer news, Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to victory in the Copa América in Brazil over the weekend, may not be able to return to F.C. Barcelona, the only professional home he has known.

The club's dire financial straits and a series of decisions by team management — including the one to let Messi's contract expire — have imperiled his future there. Barcelona must cut about $240 million from its wage bill this summer in order to register any new players, including Messi.

Some of the silver coins that were discovered near Biskupiec, a town in Poland.Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times

10. And finally, the mystery of the medieval French coins — found in Poland.

This past fall, a treasure hunter searching a cornfield with a metal detector found silver coins minted more than 1,100 years ago and nearly 1,000 miles away.

The coins are being analyzed by the Polish Academy of Sciences.

One archaeologist has suggested the coins were part of a ransom paid when an invading Viking army laid siege to Paris in 845 and received more than two tons of silver to prevent it from destroying the city.

Have a demystifying evening.

Lance Booth compiled photos for this briefing.

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