Biden tells reports he will visit border ‘at some point’ as Mayorkas defends administration record
- Mayorkas blames Trump for border woes as Republicans attack Biden
- US trial finds AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is 79% effective
- Senate prepares for showdown over filibuster
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10.43am GMT
My colleague Sarah Boseley, the Guardian’s Health Editor, brings what looks like some good news for vaccine roll-out in the US. A major trial has found that the AstraZeneca vaccine is 79% effective, with no increased blood clot risk. This paves the way for FDA approval. She writes:
The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness in a large trial in the US, Chile and Peru. The vaccine was 100% effective against severe or critical disease and hospitalisation and was safe, the drugmaker said on Monday, releasing results of the late-stage human trial study of more than 32,000 volunteers across all age groups.
Related: Covid: AstraZeneca vaccine 79% effective with no increased blood clot risk – US trial
10.37am GMT
Here’s how Amy Wang at the Washington Post summed up the weekend’s media appearances by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She writes:
Mayorkas, who appeared on almost all of the major political shows Sunday morning, sought to push a consistent message as the Biden administration is being pressed about conditions in overcrowded detention centers for unaccompanied immigrant children.
“The border is closed. We are expelling families. We are expelling single adults,” Mayorkas said Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” adding that unaccompanied minors should not attempt to make any journey to the U.S.-Mexico border now. “We strongly urge, and the message is clear, not to do so now. I cannot overstate the perils of the journey that they take.”
10.23am GMT
Stephen Collinson at CNN offers this analysis of the Biden administration response to the situation on the US-Mexico border, where there has been a rapid increase in the number of unaccompanied children entering the country:
After weeks of refusing to call the crossings that have overwhelmed border posts a “crisis,” the administration is making an aggressive attempt to defuse the situation and the toxic politics it has stirred in Washington.
“I know what’s going on in those facilities,” Biden said after returning to the White House from Camp David, pledging to travel to the border himself “at some point.”
10.19am GMT
Good morning, and welcome to Monday’s live coverage of US politics. Here’s a catch-up on the main stories, and some of what we have in the diary for today.