Good afternoon, this is Repowered with the Daily Beast. It's Monday, May 3rd, and these are the top stories the Chi Chi team is watching right now. Despite a strong vaccine rollout, some people are still hesitant to get the shot. Combine that with new coronavirus variants on the uptick, and we have a strong likelihood that the U.S.
won't return immunity. At least, not anytime soon. More than half of all American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, but reportedly the number of people signing up for their second dose or to be inoculated at all is on the decline. However, Dr.
Anthony Fauci says that infections will go down regardless if enough people are vaccinated. Come June, fully vaccinated travelers will be allowed to visit Europe. The plan announced by the European Commission will also welcome visitors from countries with low COVID-19 infection rates, as long as they have a negative test. Because Europe's vaccination rate is rising, the plan says the continent can now relax rules on non-essential travel.
However, legislation will provide an emergency break to close borders if necessary. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 180,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been wasted due to poor planning of the vaccine rollout. Of the wasted vaccines, the CVS pharmacy chain was responsible for nearly half, and Walgreens was responsible for 21%. More than 60% of the wasted doses were those supplied by Pfizer, which was the first vaccine to roll out, and which incurred problems with ultra-cold temperature requirements.
The CVS pharmacy chain supposedly wasted more vaccines than states, U.S. territories, and federal agencies combined. It is not exactly clear why the chains had such difficulties. Border Patrol officials will say a small boat that flipped over on Sunday morning in the waters off of Southern California may have been part of a human trafficking operation.
Authorities say the boat overturned after crashing into the shoreline, and then broke apart on the rocks. First responders pulled 27 people out of the water, all suffering from various forms of injuries with at least five needing CPR. Three passengers are confirmed dead, and officials are still searching for other possible victims. Lightweight boxer Felix Rodejo has now been charged with killing his girlfriend and unborn child.
Initially he was just a person of interest, after the woman's body was found floating in a lagoon in Puerto Rico over the weekend. Relatives of the woman said that she went missing after she told Rodejo that she was pregnant, and claimed he had threatened her to not have the baby due to his status as a boxer, and that he has his own family. Late Sunday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Rodejo had been charged with kidnapping and carjacking, resulting in death and with intentionally killing an unborn child, hours after he surrendered to authorities.
That's all for today. Check back every Wednesday morning and afternoon for more news you need to know. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.