A top White House aide is making his pitch for young people to get vaccinated personal by sharing the struggles his own son has dealt with since contracting COVID-19 last fall.

The Biden Administration announced Friday a massive investment in the fight against COVID-19 variants.

The Biden administration says the U.S. is setting up a $1.7 billion national network to identify and track worrisome coronavirus mutations whose spread could trigger another pandemic wave.

It’s been a hectic few days in terms of COVID-19 news in Michigan, with discussions about whether new restrictions are needed, an extension of emergency workplace rules and questions surrounding vaccines.

The director of the CDC said the answer to Michigan’s alarming rise in COVID-19 cases isn’t to “vaccinate our way out” of it, but to “shut things down” like the state did last spring and summer.

Thousands of people are getting vaccinated every day across the state, but as we continue to try to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the role of physicians will be critical as we try to reach herd immunity.

Chinese officials say 11 more people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in a southwestern city bordering Myanmar that is the scene of China’s current sole active outbreak.

North Korea continues to claim a perfect record in keeping out the coronavirus in its latest report to the World Health Organization.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky explained Friday why those guidelines aren’t ready yet at the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing. Ad“Six weeks ago, only 8% of seniors -- those most vulnerable to COVID -- had received a vaccination,” said White House advisor Andy Slavitt. States that allowed on-site dining in restaurants had a 3% increase in COVID deaths within 100 days. “I think the science is now following the messaging that we have, and the messaging has followed the science. “This is not the first report that demonstrates the impact of in-person dining and how cases and deaths will follow after in-person dining.

Eric Holcomb received his COVID-19 vaccine shot Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the opening of the state’s first mass vaccination clinic. Holcomb wore a face mask in the front passenger seat of an SUV while getting the shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the drive-through clinic. Ad___TORONTO — Canada is getting a fourth vaccine to prevent COVID-19, approving the Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose. Canada has pre-purchased 10 million Johnson & Johnson doses, with options to buy another 28 million. The U.S. approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last month.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Federal health officials are urging U.S. residents to hold on just for a few months longer. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said they are months away from being able to vaccinate every adult in the country. READ: Why Michigan officials felt now was right time to loosen COVID-19 restrictions“The next three months are pivotal,” Walensky said. How this plays out is up to us.”White House advisor Andy Slavitt said they hope the country will rally together and finish the race. The CDC is expected to release new guidelines Thursday on what fully vaccinated people can do to stay safe.

He went on to say that by the end of July his administration can deliver 600 million doses for Americans. But “it's one thing to have a vaccine available, the problem was how to get to people's arms.”The Pfizer plant Biden toured, near Kalamazoo, produces one of the two federally approved COVID-19 shots. "I would’ve gotten there some way.”AdWhite House adviser Slavitt said the 6 million doses delayed won’t spoil and the vaccine is “safe and sound” under refrigeration. Slavitt said about 1.4 million doses were being shipped Friday as the work of clearing the backlog begins. The Virginia Department of Health reported that it was expecting delays on about 90% of its expected 120,000 doses this week and warned that delays could cascade into next week.

Health officials say the first shipments of the Chinese and Russian vaccines will be used in low-income neighborhoods of Mexico City or its suburbs. — Millions of vulnerable U.S. residents will need COVID-19 vaccines brought to them because they rarely or never leave their homes. Johnson & Johnson in December agreed to provide up to 500 million doses of its vaccine to COVAX through 2022. Ad“If we are to end the global pandemic, life-saving innovations like vaccines must be within reach for all countries,” Johnson & Johnson Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Paul Stoffels said in a statement. The state health department has scheduled vaccination clinics during the weekend to replace those postponed due to a winter storm.

Since he took office three weeks ago, Biden’s team has attacked the problem on multiple fronts. Much of the improvement in vaccination deliveries so far has been due to long-planned manufacturing ramp-ups, not the actions of the Biden team, aides acknowledge. Biden’s team pledged to give states three weeks notice on what's coming their way. Two weeks into Biden’s administration, a Quinnipiac poll showed 61% of Americans approving of the way the president is handling the coronavirus pandemic. The Biden team is already actively working with pharmaceutical companies to prepare “booster” shots for the variants, potentially annually, like flu vaccines.

DETROIT – On Monday, the White House COVID-19 Response Team urged Americans not to let their guard down and continue following recommendations to slow the spread of the virus. Those concerns were heightened by worries about the new variants. Even with ongoing efforts to increase vaccine production the demand far outweighs the supply. Scientific models predict the more contagious United Kingdom variant will become the dominant virus in the United States by the end of March. “We anticipate that we are probably going to be sequencing up to three to four more than we are already sequencing.

President Joe Biden has called for setting up 100 mass vaccination centers around the country within a month. AdMilitary troops will staff one of the two California centers, FEMA and Pentagon officials said. Each of the Pentagon's five military teams includes 222 personnel, including 80 who will give the vaccines, as well as nurses and other support staff. AdGen. Dan Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the Guard has the ability to field about 200 additional teams. Training other medical personnel to give the vaccination shots, he said, would potentially provide more.

(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)MEXICO CITY — Mexico reported a near-record 1,707 confirmed coronavirus deaths Wednesday, as the country runs out of vaccines. Ad___THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:Spain surpasses 60,000 confirmed virus deaths. British officials say Oxford study backs up their decision to delay second vaccine shot for up to 12 weeks. Ad___OKLAHOMA CITY -- About 11,500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be shipped to pharmacies across Oklahoma next week, state health officials said. ___MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaragua’s government says it has approved Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine for emergency use.

The state crossed that mark Monday, exactly a year after officials reported the first case of a coronavirus infection in Massachusetts. — Maryland’s acting health secretary says the state’s hospitals have received less than half of their expected allocations of second doses of the coronavirus vaccine for front-line health workers this week. Schrader says state officials were talked with the federal Department of Health and Human Services all weekend trying to figure out what happened. The CDC says Iowa has delivered 190,689 first vaccine doses to individuals, or 6,044 per 100,000 people, the third lowest rate in the nation. Ad___PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is not planning to limit use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for elderly people like some other European Union nations.

The Biden administration’s new “COVID-19 Response Team” held its first briefing ever on Tuesday. Walensky warned that 89,000 more Americans could die due to COVID-19 in the next four weeks. Whitmer seeks common ground, virus relief in State of State“The White House respects and will follow the science, and that the science will speak independently and that our core values of science, public health and equity are going to drive our actions here at the White House,” said Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to White House COVID-19 Response Team. However, it will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine in the U.S. can get one. “I want you to know we’re taking this issue on with incredible urgency and purpose,” Slavitt said.

(Peter Meecham/New Zealand Herald via AP)WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Travelers returning to New Zealand will face stricter rules at quarantine hotels as health authorities investigate how up to three people got infected with the coronavirus while isolating at Auckland’s Pullman Hotel. The record increase of 65 deaths is three more than the previous one-day record reported on Jan. 6, according to health department records. The university and county health department are asking students to limit leaving their residence to going to classes, getting food, work and other necessary in-person activities. The health department said in the news release that if the case counts continues to rise, stricter measures will have to be applied. The previous one-day record of 62 was reported Jan. 6, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

It marked a sharp contrast to what had become the Trump show in the past administration, when public health officials were repeatedly undermined by a president who shared his unproven ideas without hesitation. The deaths projection wasn't much different from what Biden himself has said, but nonetheless served as a stark reminder of the brutal road ahead. The new briefings, beginning just a week into Biden’s tenure, are meant as an explicit rejection of President Donald Trump's approach to the coronavirus outbreak. Dr. David Hamer, a professor of global health and medicine at Boston University’s School of Public Health, said having briefings from health officials that are “based on serious science” would go a long way toward improving public perceptions of the vaccine. Those messages found few champions in the former administration, as Trump openly flouted science-based guidance from his own administration.