Coronavirus vaccine news, updates and information for 6-04-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for June 4th, 2021.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The United States sends its first shipments of surplus vaccine doses abroad today. 80 million doses by the end of June to start with. 75% of the first 25 million doses will be allotted through COVAX, the international distribution system to help with vaccinations in the world's poorest countries.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>California will fully reopen in less than two weeks and do away with almost all mask and social distancing requirements for the vaccinated people. But the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is considering new workplace rules that even vaccinated employees must remain masked unless everyone in their workspace is inoculated. The California Chamber of Commerce is not pleased.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We’re hearing a lot about vaccinations but what about effective treatments for COVID-19, and what about outright cures for it? The task is to develop a drug that targets the virus itself. So far, only one antiviral treatment — remdesivir — is recommended for use in the U.S., and experts say it’s not effective enough. A team at Miami’s Ridgeback Biotherapeutics began work in the spring of 2020 to find a possible treatment and get ready for the clinical trials. Now their drug, molnupiravir, is one of two medicines to treat COVID-19 nearing the end of clinical testing.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Another report of inaccurate reporting. Two new studies show COVID-19 is many times more prevalent in Indonesia than shown by official figures. The inaccuracies are the result of a lack of testing and contact tracing. One study suggested 15% of Indonesians had already contracted COVID-19 - when official figures had infections at only around 0.4% of people.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>You’d think with all the lockdowns and working from home U.S. traffic deaths would have dropped tremendously. Not at all. In fact, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says traffic deaths rose 7% last year, the biggest incr