Evening summary
That’s all from me today. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest stories.
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The US military admitted that its 29 August drone strike in Kabul killed 10 Afghan civilians and no Islamic State fighters. The admission marked a stunning reversal from the military, which had previously defended the integrity of the attack. “We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with Isis-K or were a direct threat to US forces,” US CENTCOM Commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie said. “It was a mistake, and I offer my sincere apology.”
- France has recalled its ambassadors to the US and Australia, marking the latest escalation in the country’s public criticism of the Aukus defense deal. “This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on 15 September by Australia and the United States,” French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. French officials have said they received no advance warning of the nuclear submarine deal, which contradicted Australia’s earlier promise to buy a French-built fleet of submarines. This is the first time France has recalled its ambassador since the United States’ founding.
- An advisory panel at the Food and Drug Administration decisively voted against recommending Pfizer coronavirus vaccine boosters for all fully vaccinated Americans age 16 or older. The panel’s decision likely means the Biden administration will not meet its deadline of making Pfizer boosters available to all fully vaccinated American adults by next week.
- A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in a crowded migrant camp near Del Rio, Texas. As of last night, about 10,000 migrants – many from Haiti – were staying under the Del Rio International Bridge as border patrol officials struggled to process the large number of people arriving at the US-Mexican border. The migrants have had infrequent access to food and water as they wait in the punishing Texas heat.
- Interest in the far-right “Justice for J6” rally on Saturday seems to be waning, as potential attendees express concern that the event is a “trap” set by law enforcement. The event is being held in support of the pro-Trump insurrectionists who carried out the Capitol attack on 6 January.
- A panel of judges in North Carolina permanently blocked the state’s 2018 voter ID law, saying that it was at least in part motivated by discrimination against Black voters. The 2018 law was enacted after federal courts struck down a 2013 voter ID law, which was found to target Black voters with “almost surgical precision.”
Updated
The White House will host a virtual global Covid-19 summit next week, as the UN General Assembly convenes in New York.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the meeting of world leaders, civil society groups, philanthropists, business leaders, and NGOs will be asked to “commit to a higher level of ambition” on issues including “enhancing equitably access to vaccines” and boosting supplies of oxygen, tests, drugs and PPE.
Joe Biden will use the summit to call on world leaders to commit to fully vaccinating 70% of the world’s population by September 2022, the Washington Post reported.
Earlier today, the Washington Post also reported that the Biden administration was negotiating to purchase 500m more doses of the Pfizer vaccine to donate to other countries.
Biden has faced criticism for promising booster shots to Americans even as much of the world remains unvaccinated. But earlier today, the FDA declined to approve Pfizer booster shots for all Americans over 16. It elected instead to recommend the shots only to those over 65 or at high risk of serious infection, including healthcare workers.
My colleague Kim Willsher reports from Paris on France’s decision to recall its ambassadors to the US and Australia:
It is the first time France has recalled a US ambassador; the two countries have been allies since the American war of independence. France also cancelled a gala due to be held on Friday to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Chesapeake Bay, a decisive event in the war, which ended with the French fleet’s victory over the British on 5 September 1781.
A White House official told Reuters that the United States regretted the French decision and said Washington had been in close touch with Paris. The official said the United States would be engaged in the coming days to resolve differences between the two countries.
Peter Ricketts, a former permanent undersecretary at the Foreign Office and former UK ambassador to France, tweeted: “Don’t underestimate reaction in Paris. It’s not just anger but a real sense of betrayal that UK as well as US and Aus negotiated behind their backs for 6 months. I lived the rupture in 2003 over Iraq. This feels as bad or worse.”
After news of the ambassador recall, Lord Ricketts added: “Unprecedented between allied nations? Interestingly not from UK. A signal Paris regards Washington and Canberra as ringleaders in plot, with London as accomplice. Expect further French measures targeting interests of all three.”
Public health officials in Idaho and parts of Alaska and Montana have approved healthcare rationing in response to the surge of hospitalizations among largely unvaccinated Covid-19 patients, the AP reports.
The rationing process, known as “Crisis Standards of Care”, involves a set of legal and ethical guidelines that hospitals follow to determine who receives care when they cannot meet demand.
Some forms of rationing have been common during the pandemic, such as the postponement of non-emergency surgeries.
But the rationing standards also include a scoring system if hospitals have to determine who should receive a bed or ventilator. The scoring system prioritizes saving the highest number of “life-years”, so younger, healthier people are more likely to qualify for treatment, according to the AP.
In extreme cases, if the entire state runs out of ventilators, Idaho will implement a “Universal Do Not Resuscitate Order”, which means that patients who suffer a cardiac arrest will not receive live saving measures, according to the AP.
“The situation is dire – we don’t have enough resources to adequately treat the patients in our hospitals, whether you are there for Covid-19 or a heart attack or because of a car accident,” said Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, in a statement announcing the policy.
“Our hospitals and healthcare systems need our help. The best way to end crisis standards of care is for more people to get vaccinated. It dramatically reduces your chances of having to go to the hospital if you do get sick from Covid-19. In addition, please wear a mask indoors in public and outdoors when it’s crowded to help slow the spread.”
Updated
Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House permanent select committee on intelligence, has released a statement on the US military’s admission that it killed 10 Afghan civilians and no Islamic State targets in its 29 August drone strike, including seven children.
Schiff, a California Democrat, appeared to suggest that the military had been dishonest in its public statements following the attack, and that there may be investigations to follow:
In acknowledging that error, the Department of Defense has taken the first step towards transparency and accountability. And after such a devastating failure - one that, by the Department’s estimate, killed 10 civilians, at least 7 of them children - it cannot be the last step. We need to know what went wrong in the hours and minutes leading up to the strike to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
I am also concerned about the accuracy and completeness of public statements made in the immediate aftermath of the strike, and whether those accounted for all of the information possessed by the government at the time. We must assure that the Department examines its actions carefully and objectively, even in the absence of press reports, such as here, which brought this critical mistake to light.
This is an area deserving of additional oversight, and along with my colleagues in Congress, the House Intelligence Committee will continue to press for answers.
North Carolina Republicans rushed through the voter ID measure in a lame duck session in 2018 after voters approved a constitutional amendment to require identification at the polls.
The court noted Republicans enacted the measure through an unusual process, moving the bill quickly through the legislature. They did that, the court said, because they had just lost their supermajority in the state legislature and pass the measure while they could still override a veto from governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat.
The 2018 amendment and law came after a previous 2013 North Carolina voter ID measure was struck down by federal courts. That measure was part of a law that targeted African Americans with “almost surgical precision,” the US court of appeals for the 4th circuit wrote.
The 2018 measure expanded the types of photo ID acceptable under the law to include college and government employee IDs, according to the AP.
Judges block North Carolina voter ID law, citing racial discrimination
A North Carolina panel of judges permanently blocked the state’s 2018 voter photo identification law on Friday, saying Republican lawmakers were in part motivated by an intent to discriminate against African American voters when they enacted the measure.
“The majority of this three-judge panel finds the evidence at trial sufficient to show that the enactment of S.B. 824 was motivated at least in part by an unconstitutional intent to target African American voters,” Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha wrote in a 2-1 decision for a 3-judge panel.
“The majority of this three-judge panel also finds that the Defendants have failed to prove, based on the evidence at trial, that S.B. 824 would have been enacted in its present form if it did not tend to discriminate against African American voters,” he added.
“Other, less restrictive voter ID laws would have sufficed to achieve the legitimate nonracial purposes of implementing the constitutional amendment requiring voter ID, deterring fraud, or enhancing voter confidence.”
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Nathaniel Poovey wrote “not one scintilla of evidence was introduced during this trial that any legislator acted with racially discriminatory intent.”
The ruling is almost certain to be appealed.
Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland, California, picking up the blog for the rest of the afternoon.
Earlier today, we brought you the news that the FDA voted not to recommend a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine for most Americans.
However, the panel of experts did recommend that people over 65 and at high risk of severe Covid-19 should get a booster shot at least six months after their first doses, my colleagues Jessica Glenza and Eric Berger report.
This category includes healthcare workers and people at high-risk of “occupational” exposure to Covid.
Today’s recommendations only apply to the Pfizer vaccine. Moderna has also applied to the FDA for approval of booster shots.
You can read our full report on the latest in the debate over boosters here:
Updated
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Julia Carrie Wong, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
-
The US military admitted that its August 29 drone strike in Kabul killed 10 Afghan civilians and no Islamic State fighters. The admission marked a stunning reversal from the military, which had previously defended the integrity of the attack. “We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to US forces,” US CENTCOM Commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie said. “It was a mistake, and I offer my sincere apology.”
- France has recalled its ambassadors to the US and Australia, marking the latest escalation in the country’s public criticism of the Aukus defense deal. “This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on 15th September by Australia and the United States,” French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. French officials have said they received no advance warning of the nuclear submarine deal, which contradicted Australia’s earlier promise to buy a French-built fleet of submarines.
- An advisory panel at the Food and Drug Administration decisively voted against recommending Pfizer coronavirus vaccine boosters for all fully vaccinated Americans aged 16 or older. The panel’s decision likely means the Biden administration will not meet its deadline of making Pfizer boosters available to all fully vaccinated American adults by next week.
- The Biden administration is receiving criticism over a crowded migrant camp near Del Rio, Texas. As of last night, about 10,000 migrants were staying under the Del Rio International Bridge as Border Patrol officials struggled to process the large number of people arriving at the US-Mexican border. The migrants have had infrequent access to food and water as they wait in the punishing Texas heat.
- Interest in the far-right “Justice for J6” rally on Saturday seems to be waning, as potential attendees express concern that the event is a “trap” set by law enforcement. The event is being held in support of the pro-Trump insurrectionists who carried out the Capitol attack on January 6.
Julia will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Asked about France’s decision to recall its ambassador to the US, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby noted that defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his French counterpart this morning.
“I won’t characterize the French side of course, but it was clear from the discussion that there is still much work to do in terms of our defense relationship with France,” Kirby said at the Pentagon press briefing today.
Pentagon Press Sec. John Kirby responds to France recalling its ambassador to the U.S. over the nuclear submarine deal with Australia:
— The Recount (@therecount) September 17, 2021
"There is still much work to do in terms of our defense relationship with France.” pic.twitter.com/kyQf2yI4M9
Other senior US officials have sought to placate France’s concerns about the Aukus deal by emphasizing the enduring importance of the alliance between Washington and Paris.
“We value our relationship and our partnership with France on a variety of issues facing the global community,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said yesterday.
“I would leave it, of course, to our Australian partners to describe why they sought this new technology and why they pursued this technology from the United States.”
France recalls ambassadors to US and Australia in protest of nuclear submarine deal
The French government is now recalling its ambassadors to the US and Australia, marking the latest escalation in the country’s public criticism of the newly announced Aukus deal.
“At the request of the President of the Republic, I am recalling to Paris without delay our ambassadors to the United States and to Australia for consultations,” French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.
“This exceptional decision is justified by the exceptional gravity of the announcements made on 15th September by Australia and the United States.”
French officials have expressed outrage over the new defense pact between Australia, the UK and the US, which was announced earlier this week.
France has said it was given no advance warning of the nuclear submarine deal, which contradicted Australia’s earlier promise to buy a French-built fleet of submarines.
The US will buy hundreds of millions more doses of the Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine for donation to increase global vaccine access, the Washington Post reported on Friday.
Citing two unnamed sources familiar with the deal, the Post said the announcement of the additional vaccine purchases will be made next week, lining up with the United Nations general assembly meeting.
Details of the plan remain unfinalized, with the White House declining to comment. Pfizer also did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
In June, the US agreed to donate 500m Pfzier vaccine doses to 100 countries, a strategy in the Biden administration’s plan to bolster US soft power and influence that Biden said had been weakened under Donald Trump.
Globally, vaccine inequality is an ongoing issue. As of 25 August, of the 4.8bn Covid vaccines delivered, around 75% have been allocated to only 10 countries.
A little over 15m Covid vaccine doses have been thrown out in the US since 1 March, even as the Biden administration imposes new employment vaccine mandates to boost declining vaccination rates. Meanwhile, public health experts estimate that residents in low-income countries will likely have to wait until 2023 to become vaccinated.
FDA advisers vote not to recommend Pfizer booster shots for most Americans
The Guardian’s Jessica Glenza and Eric Berger report:
Scientific advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have voted not to recommend a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans older than 16, a potentially significant blow to the Biden administration after it announced a plan to “boost” adults before advisory committees had a chance to review scientific evidence in public.
The committee chair, Dr Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan epidemiologist, said he planned to continue deliberations after the vote. Sixteen of 18 advisers opposed the proposal, even as some members believed there is “a role” for a third dose.
The decision by the vaccines and related biological products advisory committee is not binding, but the FDA usually follows its advice.
The decision came after significant public scientific dissent regarding a third dose of the vaccine. Much of the data in favor of a third dose came from Israel, while data was sparse on whether a booster could help protect people against hospitalization and death.
“There are too many questions for me to feel comfortable saying ‘yes’ to this,” said A Oveta Fuller, a member and associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the Medical School University of Michigan, summing up the views of several voting members.
Defense secretary Lloyd Austin apologized for the “horrible mistake” of the August 29 drone strike in Kabul that resulted in the deaths of 10 Afghan civilians.
“On behalf of the men and women of the Department of Defense, I offer my deepest condolences to surviving family members of those who were killed, including Mr. Ahmadi, and to the staff of Nutrition and Education International, Mr. Ahmadi’s employer,” Austin said, referring to one of the victims of the strike.
“We apologize, and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake.”
In his statement, Austin noted he has ordered a “thorough review of the investigation just completed by U.S. Central Command” to more fully examine how this tragedy unfolded.
“No military works harder than ours to avoid civilian casualties. When we have reason to believe we have taken innocent life, we investigate it and, if true, we admit it,” Austin said.
“We will do that in this case. We will scrutinize not only what we decided to do -- and not do -- on the 29th of August, but also how we investigated those outcomes. We owe that to the victims and their loved ones, to the American people and to ourselves.”
US CENTCOM commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie offered his “profound condolences” to the families of those killed in the Kabul attack.
“As the combatant commander, I am fully responsible for this strike and its tragic outcome,” McKenzie said at the Pentagon press briefing.
The US military’s admission comes a week after the New York Times reported that the Kabul drone strike had killed an innocent aid worker trying to bring water to his family.
The Times reported last Friday:
Military officials said they did not know the identity of the car’s driver when the drone fired, but deemed him suspicious because of how they interpreted his activities that day, saying that he possibly visited an ISIS safe house and, at one point, loaded what they thought could be explosives into the car.
Times reporting has identified the driver as Zemari Ahmadi, a longtime worker for a U.S. aid group. The evidence suggests that his travels that day actually involved transporting colleagues to and from work. And an analysis of video feeds showed that what the military may have seen was Mr. Ahmadi and a colleague loading canisters of water into his trunk to bring home to his family.
While the U.S. military said the drone strike might have killed three civilians, Times reporting shows that it killed 10, including seven children, in a dense residential block.
US military admits Kabul strike killed 10 civilians, no Islamic State fighters
The US military has admitted that a drone strike in Kabul last month killed 10 Afghan civilians, rather than the Islamic State fighters it was meant to target.
The admission marked a severe reversal for the Pentagon, which had initially defended the effectiveness and necessity of the August 29 strike.
Gen. McKenzie: "I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to 7 children, were tragically killed in that strike...it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K...I offer my profound condolences." pic.twitter.com/w6M4LEbX3b
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 17, 2021
US CENTCOM Commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie said at a press briefing that as many as seven Afghan children were believed to have been killed in the attack.
“Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to US forces,” McKenzie said. “It was a mistake, and I offer my sincere apology.”
Updated
USCP chief acknowledges 'threats of violence' in association with 'Justice for J6' rally
The chief of the US Capitol Police, Tom Manger, acknowledged that law enforcement officials have heard “chatter” of potential violence in Washington in connection to the “Justice for J6” rally on Saturday.
“There have been some threats of violence associated with this, the events for tomorrow, and we have a strong plan in place to ensure that it remains peaceful and that if violence does occur, that we can stop it as quickly as possible,” Manger said at a press briefing a day before the far-right rally.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger tells @jeffpeguescbs "it's tough to say" if threats of violence for Saturday's rally are credible, but "the chatter that we heard prior to January 6 obviously turned out to be [credible]...so we're not taking any chances" pic.twitter.com/l2vu0mIQhT
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 17, 2021
Asked whether the USCP considers the threats of violence to be credible, Manger said, “The chatter that we heard prior to January 6 obviously turned out to be -- many of those threats turned out to be credible, so we’re not taking any chances.”
The USCP has escalated security protocols around Capitol Hill in anticipation of the rally, which is being held in support of the insurrectionists who carried out the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Among other measures, the USCP has reinstalled the fencing around the Capitol, which was previously taken down in July.
The secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, has approved a request to place 100 national guards troops on standby ahead of a planned “Justice for J6” rally happening in Washington on Saturday, the Associated Press reports.
The far-right protest is being staged by a Trump operative, Matt Braynard, and his organization, Look Ahead America. The rally will demand the justice department drop all charges against the almost 600 people arrested in connection with the 6 January Capitol attack, when Trump supporters attacked Congress in an attempt to overturn the election result.
“The task force will only be deployed upon request of the Capitol police to help protect the US Capitol building and congressional office buildings by manning building entry points and verifying credentials of individuals seeking access to the building,” a Pentagon spokesman told the AP.
Five people died around the events of 6 January, including a Capitol Hill police officer.
Joe Biden has arrived in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where the president is expected to spend the weekend.
Biden did not take any questions from reporters as he departed Washington and then arrived in Rehoboth, where he owns a beach house.
Jared Polis has become the first openly gay governor in the US to marry in office.
The Colorado governor and Marlon Reis, his partner of 18 years, hosted an intimate traditional-styled Jewish wedding surrounded by close friends, family and their two children, according to a news release this week.
The wedding, held on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus, held significant meaning as it marked the 18th anniversary of their first date.
The Colorado governor is the first publicly LGBTQ official to get married while in office, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund. A decade before Polis was elected governor of Colorado, he made history as the first parent in a same-sex relationship elected to the United States House of Representatives.
“The greatest lesson we have learned over the past 18 months is that life as we know it can change in an instant. We are thankful for the health and wellbeing of our family and friends, and the opportunity to celebrate our life together as a married couple,” Polis and Reis said in a joint statement.
Updated
Milley defends China calls reported in Woodward book
Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has defended phone calls in which, according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of the Washington Post, he reassured his Chinese counterpart that the US would make it through the transition from Donald Trump to Joe Biden without launching an attack on Beijing.
As reported by Woodward and Costa, Milley made “a pair of secret phone calls” to Gen Li Zuocheng.
One call reportedly took place on 30 October 2020 – four days before the election. The other took place on 8 January, two days after Trump supporters attacked Congress, seeking to overturn that defeat.
In the first call, prompted also by tensions in the South China Sea and over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, Milley reportedly told Li: “I want to assure you that the American government is stable and everything is going to be OK. We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you.”
Milley also reportedly told the Chinese general he would warn him if an attack was launched.
In the second call, after the Capitol riot, Milley told Li: “We are 100% steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.”
On a military flight today, Milley told reporters: “These are routine calls in order to discuss issues of the day, to reassure both allies and adversaries in this case, in order to ensure strategic stability.
“And these are perfectly within the duties and responsibilities of the chairman.”
Trump and his supporters have lashed out over the reported calls, accusing the general of treasonous behaviour. Biden has said Milley retains his “great confidence” as the most senior US general.
On his flight, to Athens on Nato business, Milley told reporters he would be glad to testify about the calls, as he is due to do in the Senate on 28 September.
“I will go into any level of detail Congress wants to go into,” he said.
Here’s another take:
Updated
Supreme court justices do not rule according to personal views and are not politicians, the hardline conservative justice Clarence Thomas said on Thursday evening.
“I think the media makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference,” Thomas said, at Notre Dame university in Indiana.
“So if they think you are anti-abortion or something personally, they think that’s the way you always will come out. They think you’re for this or for that. They think you become like a politician.
“That’s a problem. You’re going to jeopardise any faith in the legal institutions.”
Earlier this month, Thomas was one of five conservatives who in an emergency “shadow docket” decision let stand an extreme anti-abortion law from Texas.
Supporters of abortion rights fear the move previews a formal overturning of Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which guarantees the right, through a case from Mississippi.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we’re really good at finding something that separates us,” Thomas said.
He also said: “It’s not about winning and losing at the court.”
Thomas is only the latest justice to insist members of a court on which liberals are outnumbered 6-3 do not rule according to political beliefs.
Last week, the conservative Amy Coney Barrett said “judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties” and claimed the court was “not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks”.
She was speaking at a Kentucky centre named for Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader who defied convention to block Barack Obama’s third pick to the court, oversaw two picks by Donald Trump including the hugely controversial Brett Kavanaugh, then ripped up his own precedent to rush Barrett’s confirmation in place of a liberal lion, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, shortly before the last election.
McConnell looked on as Barrett spoke. The irony did not go unnoticed.
Today so far
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The Biden administration is receiving criticism over a crowded migrant camp near Del Rio, Texas. As of last night, about 10,000 migrants were staying under the Del Rio International Bridge as Border Patrol officials struggled to process the large number of people arriving at the US-Mexican border. The migrants have had infrequent access to food and water as they wait in the punishing Texas heat.
- An advisory panel at the Food and Drug Administration is meeting to discuss Pfizer’s application to make coronavirus vaccine booster shots available to all fully vaccinated Americans aged 16 or older. The Biden administration had originally said Pfizer and Moderna booster shots would be available to all adults starting the week of September 20, but now only Pfizer may be eligible to distribute third doses next week, pending the recommendation of the FDA panel.
- Interest in the far-right “Justice for J6” rally on Saturday seems to be waning, as potential attendees express concern that the event is a “trap” set by law enforcement. The event is being held in support of the pro-Trump insurrectionists who carried out the Capitol attack on January 6.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
The Guardian’s Jessica Glenza and Eric Berger report:
Scientific advisers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will debate the safety and efficacy of recommending a booster shot for fully vaccinated Americans who received the Pfizer vaccine.
Whatever the outcome of the advisory panel hearings, the recommendation is unlikely to quell dissent about whether the shots are appropriate to prevent mild to moderate illness at a time when most of the world remains unvaccinated, an issue specifically excluded from FDA deliberations.
“We are committed to focusing on the science,” said Dr Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, at the beginning of the hours-long meeting.
He said the group would “drive our decision-making and will carefully consider those data in the context of the clear and obvious public health need to continue slowing the spread of Covid-19, which at this time is leading to the death of close to 2,000 Americans each day”.
Dr Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, noted the final recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on booster shots will come next week, after the agency’s vaccine advisory panel meets to discuss the proposal.
“This process is consistent with what we outlined in August, where our goals were to stay ahead of the virus, to lay out an initial plan based on our clinical judgement and to ultimately ensure that the final plan would be based on the independent assessment and recommendations of the FDA and CDC,” Murthy said.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says a CDC advisory committee will meet next week to discuss booster shots, "after which the CDC will make their final recommendation." He says the plans for distributing the shots will be "ready to go" https://t.co/H87a2BfUQk pic.twitter.com/94pJYVccdT
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 17, 2021
He added, “Our goal then, and now, is to protect the health and well-being of the public. As soon as the FDA and CDC complete their evaluations, we will be ready to move forward accordingly.”
Implicitly addressing criticism about why health officials announced the plan for booster shots so early, Murthy said the Biden administration had used the time before the proposal is approved to coordinate with pharmacies, nursing homes and local leaders about administering third doses.
“The infrastructure that helped deliver more than 200 million first shots will be ready to go to deliver millions of booster shots as well,” Murthy said.
The White House pandemic response team is now holding a press briefing, as an FDA advisory board meets to discuss Pfizer’s application to make coronavirus vaccine booster shots available to all Americans aged 16 or older.
White House pandemic response coordinator Jeff Zients began the briefing by underscoring the effectiveness of vaccine mandates in boosting vaccination rates.
“Vaccination requirements work, and they're good for the economy.”
— The Recount (@therecount) September 17, 2021
— White House COVID Response Coordinator Jeff Zients pic.twitter.com/CuLRH7iutU
Zients noted that the vaccination rate among United Airlines employees went from 59% to 90% in just six weeks, after the company announced a vaccine requirement.
In the US military, 89% of active-duty troops have now gotten their first shot, up from 76% just three weeks ago, when defense secretary Lloyd Austin announced plans to add the coronavirus vaccine to the list of mandated vaccinations for service members.
“Vaccination requirements work, and they’re good for the economy,” Zients said.
FDA panel meets to discuss plan for Pfizer vaccine booster shots
An advisory panel at the Food and Drug Administration is meeting today to discuss Pfizer’s application to make a booster shot of its coronavirus vaccine available to all Americans aged 16 or older.
The AP has more details on the meeting:
The panel, made up of outside experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration, weighed a less than clear-cut case: While research suggests immunity levels in those who have been vaccinated wane over time and boosters can reverse that, the Pfizer vaccine is still highly protective against severe illness and death, even amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
The FDA experts were scheduled to vote on one basic question: Does the evidence show that a Pfizer booster would be safe and effective for people 16 and older? In the event of a yes vote, the FDA is expected to quickly approve boosters for Pfizer’s shot.
But that is just one step in the process. The more thorny question of who should get the shots and when will be debated next week by advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC generally adopts the recommendations of the group, which sets policy for U.S. vaccination campaigns.
The Biden administration had originally said that Pfizer and Moderna vaccine booster shots would be available to all American adults starting the week of September 20.
But now, only Pfizer may be eligible for approval starting next week, sparking questions about why the president set out the booster shot plan before the proposal was approved by health authorities.
“Every time we’ve talked about this, we’ve talked about this as based on a thorough review and a thorough process to complete,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said yesterday. “It’s our job to be prepared whenever we can operationalize.”
The Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza report on the six-week abortion ban in Texas:
The legal architect of the Texas abortion ban has argued in a supreme court brief that overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark decision which guarantees a right to abortion in the US, would compel women to practice abstinence as a way to “control their reproductive lives”.
Former Texas solicitor general Jonathan Mitchell, who played a pivotal role in designing the legal framework of the state’s near-total abortion ban, also argued on behalf of anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life that women would still be able to terminate pregnancies if Roe was overturned by traveling to “wealthy pro-abortion” states like California and New York with the help of “taxpayer subsidies”.
“Women can ‘control their reproductive lives’ without access to abortion; they can do so by refraining from sexual intercourse,” Mitchell wrote in the brief.
“One can imagine a scenario in which a woman has chosen to engage in unprotected (or insufficiently protected) sexual intercourse on the assumption that an abortion will be available to her later. But when this court announces the overruling of Roe, that individual can simply change their behavior in response to the court’s decision if she no longer wants to take the risk of an unwanted pregnancy.”
Read the Guardian’s full report:
Donald Trump celebrated the news that Republican congressman Anthony Gonzalez, who supported the then-president’s impeachment for inciting the Capitol insurrection, will not seek reelection.
“This is no loss for Ohio or our Country and, most importantly, we have a great candidate who was substantially leading Gonzalez in the polls, Max Miller, who I have given my Complete and Total Endorsement,” the former president said in a statement released this morning.
It is unclear what polls Trump was referring to, but Gonzalez had raised significantly more money than Miller as of July.
In a separate statement, Trump added, “1 down, 9 to go!”
That appears to be a reference to the nine other House Republicans who, like Gonzalez, supported Trump’s second impeachment earlier this year.
In his conversation with the New York Times, Republican congressman Anthony Gonzalez described Donald Trump as “a cancer for the country”.
“Politically the environment is so toxic, especially in our own party right now,” Gonzalez said of his decision not to seek reelection.
“You can fight your butt off and win this thing, but are you really going to be happy? And the answer is, probably not.”
Gonzalez said he did not believe Trump would be elected president again. “Most of my political energy will be spent working on that exact goal,” he added.
The Ohio lawmaker also argued that the Republican party had learned the wrong lessons from Trump’s presidency, saying, “Beyond that, and more importantly, it’s horribly irresponsible and destructive for the country.”
Updated
Anthony Gonzalez said that his political career has impacted the lives of his family members, which was a driving factor in his decision not to seek reelection.
The Republican congressman told the New York Times that he and his family had to be escorted by two uniformed police officers through the Cleveland airport earlier this year, due to security concerns.
“That’s one of those moments where you say, ‘Is this really what I want for my family when they travel, to have my wife and kids escorted through the airport?’” Gonzalez said.
Many members of Congress have spent more money on security since the Capitol insurrection, out of concern for their safety.
Pro-impeachment Republican announces he will not run for reelection
Congressman Anthony Gonzalez, one of ten House Republicans who supported impeaching Donald Trump for inciting the Capitol insurrection, has announced he will not run for reelection.
“While my desire to build a fuller family life is at the heart of my decision, it is also true that the current state of our politics, especially many of the toxic dynamics inside our own party, is a significant factor in my decision,” Gonzalez said in a statement released last night.
See my full statement below regarding my decision not to seek re-election. pic.twitter.com/vsggxjD1FI
— Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (@RepAGonzalez) September 17, 2021
Gonzalez, a former professional football player, had previously been considered a rising star in the Republican party, but Trump has repeatedly attacked the Ohio lawmaker since he cast the impeachment vote in January.
The former president has already endorsed one of the candidates who is challenging Gonzalez in the Republican primary, former Trump aide Max Miller.
Far-right groups tell supporters planned Washington rally is a government ‘trap’
Extremist groups and prominent rightwing figures are warning supporters not to attend a far-right rally in support of the people arrested for participating in the 6 January Capitol attack, calling the event a “false flag” and a “trap”.
Capitol police are bracing for potential violence at the “Justice for J6” protest rally, which is taking place in Washington DC on Saturday, and security fencing has gone up once more around the Capitol building.
But local and federal officials have also said that they expect no more than 700 people to attend the protest, a far cry from the estimated tens of thousands of supporters of Donald Trump who converged on the Capitol in January.
Across rightwing social media platforms, “most people who are talking about the event in any capacity are telling people to steer clear of DC,” Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said. “Any extremist group that’s talking about it is warning people against attending.”
The common narrative in rightwing forums is that the rally is “a trap that’s been set by federal authorities” that will leave participants vulnerable to “surveillance and arrest”, Miller said.
Val Verde county sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said Border Patrol officials are “overwhelmed” trying to process the thousands of immigrants waiting near Del Rio.
“They just can’t process them fast enough, so there’s a backlog of these individuals underneath the bridge,” Martinez told the Texas Tribune.
“They’re not detained, they’re just gathered there waiting their turn to get processed.”
The criticism of Joe Biden’s immigration policy comes as homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ chief of staff is stepping own from her role.
Politico reported earlier this week:
Karen Olick, chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, announced Monday that she will be leaving for an undisclosed opportunity.
Jennifer Higgins, the current associate director of Refugee, Asylum and International Operations at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will step in as a temporary chief of staff until a new appointment is made, according to officials in the department. Olick plans to leave DHS at the end of the month.
In an email, Mayorkas told DHS officials that Olick ‘has decided to resign her position and pursue new opportunities. We are grateful to Karen for her service during the critical first nine months of the new Administration.’
Biden criticized over crowded migrant camp near Del Rio, Texas
Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.
The Biden administration is receiving severe criticism over a crowded migrant camp that has popped up near the border city of Del Rio, Texas.
Reuters reports:
Thousands of migrants have converged under the bridge that connects Del Rio, Texas and Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña, creating a makeshift camp with few basic services in intense heat in the latest border emergency facing U.S. President Joe Biden.
Del Rio mayor Bruno Lozano said that as of early Thursday evening 10,503 migrants were under the Del Rio International Bridge, up from 8,200 in the morning.
Food and water has been scarce, around 20 migrants told Reuters, and temperatures have risen to around 99F (37C). Reuters witnessed hundreds of migrants wading through the Rio Grande river and back into Mexico to stock up on essentials they say they are not receiving on the American side.
Republican lawmakers are blaming the White House for the alarming conditions of the camp, saying Joe Biden has failed to develop appropriate immigration policies.
“The Biden administration is in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan,” the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, said in a statement.
The White House will likely be pressed to come up with answers to address the situation today. Stay tuned.
