Coronavirus vaccine news, updates and information for 5-18-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for May 18th, 2021.</p><p><br></p><p>This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for May 18th, 2021.</p><p><br></p><p>If you’re in India, you have to wonder what else could happen. A powerful cyclone in the Arabian Sea was expected to make landfall on India’s west coast last night. Authorities tried to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people, but what the threat also did was suspend desperately needed vaccinations in one state. Flooding and crowded evacuation shelters could also make matters worse.</p><p><br></p><p>Conditions in India have definitely spread to neighboring Nepal. Cases have been exploding there over the last few weeks and the director-general of the World Health Organization is worried about what’s unfolding there. He said Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Egypt are also dealing with spikes in cases and hospitalizations.</p><p><br></p><p>The Indian variant is spreading in England to such an extent, the government's review of social distancing rules there may be delayed. The plan was to lift all restrictions on June 21st but the Prime Minister now says that cannot be definitive.</p><p><br></p><p>While New York is prepared to lift mask mandates according to CDC guidance, California is saying not so fast. They won’t do it until June 15 so the public and businesses have time to prepare, and so health officials can make sure cases stay low.</p><p><br></p><p>If you’re one of the ones who laughed at Ohio’s million-dollar lottery to encourage citizens to get vaccinated, you may have laughed a little early. More than 25,400 shots were administered Friday, two days after the program was announced. That made it the highest vaccination day in three weeks. Vaccinations for those age 30 to 74 jumped 6% after weeks of steady decline.</p><p><br></p><p>In the United States cases were down 33%, deaths are down 13%, and hospitalizations are down 18% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has bee