Coronavirus vaccine news, updates and information for 5-06-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for May 6th, 2021.</p><p><br></p><p>In the U.S., the realization is setting in…“herd immunity” won’t be achieved this year, or maybe even next year. Vaccine hesitancy is just too high, so new variants will likely emerge and spread. Daily vaccinations have slowed enormously as the story of Covid-19 is shaping up to be, development of the vaccines was an unprecedented achievement, distribution of the vaccines a success, but the communication plan encouraging people to get the vaccine was a catastrophic failure.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>A case of the variant causing thousands of deaths and crushing health systems in India has been discovered in San Diego. The infected person is a woman in her 20s, who returned from India in late March and was hospitalized in early April. The variant has also been found in Michigan and Iowa.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>As feared, the variant in India is beginning to cross borders. Nepal is being overwhelmed by a COVID-19 surge. 57 times as many cases as a month ago, with 44% of tests now coming back positive. The Red Cross said, "What’s happening in India right now is a horrifying preview of Nepal’s future if we can’t contain this latest surge that’s claiming more lives by the minute.”</p><p><br></p><p>The U.S. government is supporting a controversial proposal to waive intellectual property rights for vaccines. Meaning companies like Pfizer and Moderna would not be able to exclusively use their patents. It’s thought releasing these private companies’ information to the world will increase global supplies.</p><p><br></p><p>With so many in quarantine and lockdowns for so long, some thought there might be a pandemic baby boom. The opposite has happened. The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in almost 50 years. The drop was seen in every major race and ethnicity, and nearly every age group.</p><p><br></p><p>In the United States cases were down 26%, deaths are down 3%, and hospitalizations are do