Coronavirus, week 53: Johnson and Johnson, international news

Breaking, and starting with a look domestically: The federal government is calling for a pause in use of Johnson and Johnson vaccine and plans to do so at any federal vaccine sites. Blood clotting is the concern. Could this all be from mixing with AstraZenica at the Baltimore facility? Who knows. Stay tuned.

International

Many in America like to laugh at British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but is it possible that French President Emmanuel Macron is really more the Donald Trump of Europe on COVID? Well, maybe not. France's death rate may be growing, but it's still well below that of the US, which in turn is below that of Britain. (It's also still lower than Italy.) OTOH, France was showing an alarming new spike this spring.

Meanwhile, the UK and EU look like Dumb and Dumber on vaccine rollout. Remember how, in the wake of the Great Recession, many people who thought the EU would implode due to not having financial integration along with monetary integration thought "this is the moment"? Who'da thunk that the Brusselscrats (even less tasty!) would have fucked this up?

And also meanwhile, on Twitter late last week, the People's Republic of Xi Jinping Thought was peddling the Kool-Aid about Our Glorious Leader's Glorious Vaccines. Here's the reality, though.

America

Back in America? The COVID workplace safety guidelines that Biden wanted OSHA to develop are nearly a month late now, the WSJ reports. 

Skeptical Raptor explains why he would only get the AstraZenica vaccine as a last resort. And, this is how true science works. Raptor refuses to give false certainty on "don't use it at all," but also refuses to explain away evidence. That said, this is a shift from two weeks prior, where he basically said "don't worry," although by March 30 he had already heightened his caution.

Texas is up to a whole 18 percent vaccination as of last Friday. At that rate, we'll have herd immunity at about the time Strangeabbott is running for guv again, bolstered by vote suppression. It's 45th nationally in that. (Among neighbors, New Mexico is No. 1, Oklahoma 22 and Louisiana 34.)

White evangelicals are the top vaccine-hesitants. Christianity Today claims that vaccine hesitancy is NOT coming from the pulpit. Slacktivist says that's not true.

COVID may be leading Texas into becoming more of a biotech hotspot, if emergency vaccine making becomes a cornerstone.