Month: February 2021

Two sheriff’s deputies were shot and wounded, one critically, on a Georgia highway Saturday night when two brothers in a vehicle being chased allegedly opened fire with a rifle, authorities said.

One of the brothers, Troy Arthur Phillips, 40, was captured on Sunday following a statewide search, Decatur County Sheriff Wiley Griffin announced on Facebook.

Phillips’ brother, Brad Phillips, 41, was arrested shortly after the shooting that left the Decatur County sheriff’s deputy critically wounded, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The shooting unfolded when a Decatur County Sheriff’s deputy attempted to assist a Seminole County, Florida, sheriff’s deputy in a chase on U.S. Highway 84 that started in Florida and crossed into Georgia, Griffin said.

During the chase, the occupants of a white Chevrolet pickup the deputies were attempting to stop for speeding and reckless driving opened fire with what investigators believed to be a .30 caliber rifle. The deputies returned fire as the chase continued, investigators said.

“The suspects drove into the driveway of a Decatur County residence and attempted to gain entry by shooting through the door,” according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation statement.

The Decatur County deputy arrived at the scene as the suspects were fleeing the residence in Brinson, Georgia, and one of the brothers allegedly shot the deputy while he was still in his vehicle.

The suspects crashed in a wooded area, according to investigators. Brad Phillips was arrested shortly after the crash, while Troy Phillips was able to flee the scene on foot.

The Decatur County deputy was critically wounded when he was shot underneath his arm, Griffin said.

The deputy, whose name was not released, was taken by a helicopter ambulance in critical condition to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, about 50 miles south of Brinson, Griffin said.

Griffin said the Seminole County deputy shot in the incident was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Brad Phillips was charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer. Charges against his brother were pending.

The shooting occurred when the deputies attempted to stop a vehicle for going 81 mph on the highway, authorities told ABC affiliate station WTXL-TV in Tallahassee.

While the search for Troy Phillips was going on Sunday, Griffin said in a Facebook post that investigators believed he was still in the Brinson area and advised local residents to contact law enforcement officials immediately if he is spotted.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is leading the investigation because it involves law enforcement officers, officials said.

A Connecticut ambulance company employee was arrested and charged in a string of Molotov cocktail attacks across the state that targeted two emergency medical services agencies, a volunteer fire department and a private residence on the same day, authorities said.

Richard White, 37, of Torrington, Connecticut, was arrested around 10 p.m. on Saturday by Pennsylvania State Police troopers who stopped his car on Interstate 80 near Milton, Pennsylvania, officials said.

An arrest warrant was issued for White on Saturday night, charging him with third-arson and third-degree burglary. He is being held in Pennsylvania on a $150,000 bond and is awaiting extradition back to Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Old Saybrook Police Chief Michael A. Spera told ABC News on Sunday.

“This individual has targeted those who we count on to save lives,” Spera said in a statement to ABC News. “Our Officers have worked diligently all evening obtaining both search and arrest warrants in an effort to quickly stop these violent attacks against public safety and cause the suspect to be taken into custody.”

It was not immediately clear if White had retained an attorney.

No one was injured in the attacks, Spera said.

White is an employee of the Hunters Ambulance agency in Meriden, Connecticut, according to a statement from Capt. John Mennone of the Meriden Police Department.

White’s colleague told police that he was involved in a physical altercation with another employee about 10 a.m. on Saturday following a disciplinary hearing in which he was placed on administrative leave, Mennone said.

He said police were called to the ambulance agency, but by the time they arrived White had fled. Police did not release details on what White was disciplined over.

Spera told ABC News that White works as an emergency medical technician.

Just after 4 p.m. on Saturday, White resurfaced at the Hunters Ambulance station in Old Saybrook, where he allegedly ignited a Molotov cocktail inside an employee room and fled in a 2004 gray Ford Taurus, according to Mennone’s statement.

Mennone said that at about 5 p.m., a car matching the description of White’s vehicle was spotted back at the Hunters Ambulance agency in Meriden, where the occupant of the car was seen throwing a lit Molotov cocktail at the building and speeding off.

During a news conference on Sunday, Sgt. Paul Makuc of the Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit said the back-to-back attacks at the Roxbury Volunteer Fire Department and at a residence about 2 miles away both occurred around 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Spera told ABC affiliate station WTNH-TV in New Haven that the residence set on fire in Roxbury is believed to be White’s childhood home.

A flight instructor and a student pilot were rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard crew Saturday night after their plane experienced engine trouble, forcing them to ditch the aircraft in the ocean off the coast of Hawaii, officials said.

The two pilots were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Coast Guard officials. Their names were not immediately released.

Lt. j.g. Makenzy Karnehm, watchstander of the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center, said a Coast Guard helicopter rescue crew from Air Station Barbers Point in Oahu managed to reach pilots about an hour after they ended up in the ocean about eight miles off the coast of Lanai, the sixth-largest Hawaiian island.

“As a watchstander, this is the type of outcome we want to see with every case,” Karnehm said in a statement, “Both the Coast Guard and our partners train together for incidents like this and once the call came in we were able to quickly mobilize a robust response and rescue the pilots.”

The Coast Guard and Maui Fire Department also dispatched boats to the area where the single-engine plane went down, officials said.

Coast Guard officials said they received a call at about 5:49 p.m. from the air-traffic control facility at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport that an aircraft was experiencing engine trouble and was likely going to ditch in the ocean.

On-duty Coast Guard watchstanders issued an urgent notice to mariners in the area to be on the lookout for survivors, officials said.

A Mokulele Airlines plane that had just taken off from the Lanai Airport headed to Honolulu spotted the two men in the water and radioed in their location as they continued to circle, officials told ABC affiliate station KITV in Honolulu.

Passengers aboard the Mokulele Airlines flight said their pilot quickly asked them to help scan the ocean for the stranded flyers as they circled the area.

“The pilot said, ‘There is an aircraft in distress. There is nobody else out there. We have to divert to find them,'” a passenger aboard the Mokulele Airlines flight told KITV. “We started a descending spiral over the ocean just looking for the aircraft. My wife and two passengers on the left side of the plane spotted the aircraft about to impact the water, then witnessed the aircraft impact the water.”

The airline passenger, who asked to remain anonymous, said the pilot asked him and his fellow passengers to look for two people in yellow life jackets because the pilot kept losing sight of them.

“We kept losing the plane. It submerged. It was just a white tail in a blue ocean with white caps and two small people with life jackets,” the passenger said.

Another crew from Kamaka Air also spotted the pilots in the water and continued to circle until Coast Guard crews arrived, the president of the airline told KITV.

George Hanzawa of George’s Aviation Services in Honolulu told KITV that the plane that crashed was a DA40 Diamond Star that was owned by his company. He said the flight instructor also worked for his company and took a student on a training run Saturday afternoon. He said they were expected to return by sunset.

An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists voted unanimously to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, a step closer to making a third COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans.

The recommendation paves the way for official emergency authorization by the FDA, allowing the vaccine to be provided to Americans while the company continues to study it. If that happens Friday night or over the weekend, some 4 million doses would be expected to start shipping as early as Monday.

“If the FDA [authorizes] the use of this new vaccine, we would plan to roll out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make the vaccine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

The federal government will still determine how many doses are delivered to each state and states will determine which populations are eligible to be vaccinated based on available supply.

Anthony Fauci, one of the top infectious disease doctors in the country and a senior advisor to the White House on COVID-19 response, said he’s looking forward to the FDA review of the J&J vaccine but suggested its authorization is a foregone conclusion.

“We now have three highly effective vaccines. Importantly, each of them are very effective against severe disease and virtually all have them say that you look at the data and it’s clear that you get essentially no hospitalizations, or deaths. And this is very good news,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

Here’s what to know:

The vaccine requires only one shot, with 20 million doses due before April.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot for the recipient to be considered fully immunized. The vaccine also can be stored in a refrigerator, making it relatively easy to handle.

While 4 million doses would ship out initially, the company says it’s on track to produce 20 million doses by the end of March. Along with Pfizer and Moderna doses, that means the U.S. would have enough vaccine doses for 130 million adults — about half the adult population — to be vaccinated.

By the end of June, J&J is expected to have produced 100 million vaccine doses. That would put the U.S. in a position of having a surplus by mid-summer, when Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have delivered enough vaccine to immunize 300 million people.

Officials caution, though, that it will take time to get shots in arms.

The J&J vaccine is for adults only, at least initially.

Vaccine makers are looking at whether their products would be safe and effective in children, but that will take some time. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicts vaccines could be offered to teens as early as fall and younger children in early 2022 after clinical trials are done.

For now, since J&J’s clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people looked only at adults, the vaccine would be restricted to people 18 and older. While the vaccine was found to be slightly less effective than others at preventing any symptoms, it was 85% effective at preventing severe illness and 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after individuals were vaccinated.

The other good news is that J&J was tested in countries known to have potentially more dangerous variants, including Brazil and South Africa. The data found the vaccine worked against all variants at preventing severe disease.

J&J reported that in cases of breakthrough infection, when someone who has been vaccinated still becomes infected with the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 were more mild than in participants who received the placebo.

On Wednesday, the company published a preliminary analysis suggesting its vaccine can help prevent asymptomatic infections, but the FDA concluded there is not yet enough data to say for sure if the J&J vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection.

The agency also said it’s not yet clear how long protection lasts.

No serious safety concerns were reported in the clinical trials.

Participants in the clinical trial who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed similar side effects to other vaccines, including pain at the injection site and some people with reports of fatigue, headache, or fever. Fevers were reported the day of or the day after receiving the injection and lasted one day for most people who experienced them.

There were no cases of anaphylaxis reported in the clinical trial but Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for the vaccine group at Janssen, said the company received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one with anaphylaxis.

Douoguih said the company will continue to monitor those events and any other reactions closely.

Overall, allergic reactions have not been common and are usually temporary.

It could show up at your local pharmacy.

The J&J vaccine is expected to be distributed much as the other vaccines — spread out evenly across the states, major cities and other “jurisdictions” like federal agencies. States will still determine who is eligible to be vaccinated and when the process will be opened to additional groups.

But if authorized, this vaccine would be the first to likely target the more general population. When Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in December, the focus was still on health care workers and nursing homes.

The J&J vaccine will likely be used to expand supply for local pharmacies and mass vaccination sites. In most states, priority is now being given to older Americans living independently, people with severe health risks and essential workers, like teachers.

An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists voted unanimously to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, a step closer to making a third COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans.

The recommendation paves the way for official emergency authorization by the FDA, allowing the vaccine to be provided to Americans while the company continues to study it. If that happens Friday night or over the weekend, some 4 million doses would be expected to start shipping as early as Monday.

“If the FDA [authorizes] the use of this new vaccine, we would plan to roll out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make the vaccine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

The federal government will still determine how many doses are delivered to each state and states will determine which populations are eligible to be vaccinated based on available supply.

Anthony Fauci, one of the top infectious disease doctors in the country and a senior advisor to the White House on COVID-19 response, said he’s looking forward to the FDA review of the J&J vaccine but suggested its authorization is a foregone conclusion.

“We now have three highly effective vaccines. Importantly, each of them are very effective against severe disease and virtually all have them say that you look at the data and it’s clear that you get essentially no hospitalizations, or deaths. And this is very good news,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

Here’s what to know:

The vaccine requires only one shot, with 20 million doses due before April.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot for the recipient to be considered fully immunized. The vaccine also can be stored in a refrigerator, making it relatively easy to handle.

While 4 million doses would ship out initially, the company says it’s on track to produce 20 million doses by the end of March. Along with Pfizer and Moderna doses, that means the U.S. would have enough vaccine doses for 130 million adults — about half the adult population — to be vaccinated.

By the end of June, J&J is expected to have produced 100 million vaccine doses. That would put the U.S. in a position of having a surplus by mid-summer, when Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have delivered enough vaccine to immunize 300 million people.

Officials caution, though, that it will take time to get shots in arms.

The J&J vaccine is for adults only, at least initially.

Vaccine makers are looking at whether their products would be safe and effective in children, but that will take some time. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicts vaccines could be offered to teens as early as fall and younger children in early 2022 after clinical trials are done.

For now, since J&J’s clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people looked only at adults, the vaccine would be restricted to people 18 and older. While the vaccine was found to be slightly less effective than others at preventing any symptoms, it was 85% effective at preventing severe illness and 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after individuals were vaccinated.

The other good news is that J&J was tested in countries known to have potentially more dangerous variants, including Brazil and South Africa. The data found the vaccine worked against all variants at preventing severe disease.

J&J reported that in cases of breakthrough infection, when someone who has been vaccinated still becomes infected with the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 were more mild than in participants who received the placebo.

On Wednesday, the company published a preliminary analysis suggesting its vaccine can help prevent asymptomatic infections, but the FDA concluded there is not yet enough data to say for sure if the J&J vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection.

The agency also said it’s not yet clear how long protection lasts.

No serious safety concerns were reported in the clinical trials.

Participants in the clinical trial who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed similar side effects to other vaccines, including pain at the injection site and some people with reports of fatigue, headache, or fever. Fevers were reported the day of or the day after receiving the injection and lasted one day for most people who experienced them.

There were no cases of anaphylaxis reported in the clinical trial but Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for the vaccine group at Janssen, said the company received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one with anaphylaxis.

Douoguih said the company will continue to monitor those events and any other reactions closely.

Overall, allergic reactions have not been common and are usually temporary.

It could show up at your local pharmacy.

The J&J vaccine is expected to be distributed much as the other vaccines — spread out evenly across the states, major cities and other “jurisdictions” like federal agencies. States will still determine who is eligible to be vaccinated and when the process will be opened to additional groups.

But if authorized, this vaccine would be the first to likely target the more general population. When Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in December, the focus was still on health care workers and nursing homes.

The J&J vaccine will likely be used to expand supply for local pharmacies and mass vaccination sites. In most states, priority is now being given to older Americans living independently, people with severe health risks and essential workers, like teachers.

An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists voted unanimously to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, a step closer to making a third COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans.

The recommendation paves the way for official emergency authorization by the FDA, allowing the vaccine to be provided to Americans while the company continues to study it. If that happens Friday night or over the weekend, some 4 million doses would be expected to start shipping as early as Monday.

“If the FDA [authorizes] the use of this new vaccine, we would plan to roll out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make the vaccine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

The federal government will still determine how many doses are delivered to each state and states will determine which populations are eligible to be vaccinated based on available supply.

Anthony Fauci, one of the top infectious disease doctors in the country and a senior advisor to the White House on COVID-19 response, said he’s looking forward to the FDA review of the J&J vaccine but suggested its authorization is a foregone conclusion.

“We now have three highly effective vaccines. Importantly, each of them are very effective against severe disease and virtually all have them say that you look at the data and it’s clear that you get essentially no hospitalizations, or deaths. And this is very good news,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

Here’s what to know:

The vaccine requires only one shot, with 20 million doses due before April.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot for the recipient to be considered fully immunized. The vaccine also can be stored in a refrigerator, making it relatively easy to handle.

While 4 million doses would ship out initially, the company says it’s on track to produce 20 million doses by the end of March. Along with Pfizer and Moderna doses, that means the U.S. would have enough vaccine doses for 130 million adults — about half the adult population — to be vaccinated.

By the end of June, J&J is expected to have produced 100 million vaccine doses. That would put the U.S. in a position of having a surplus by mid-summer, when Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have delivered enough vaccine to immunize 300 million people.

Officials caution, though, that it will take time to get shots in arms.

The J&J vaccine is for adults only, at least initially.

Vaccine makers are looking at whether their products would be safe and effective in children, but that will take some time. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicts vaccines could be offered to teens as early as fall and younger children in early 2022 after clinical trials are done.

For now, since J&J’s clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people looked only at adults, the vaccine would be restricted to people 18 and older. While the vaccine was found to be slightly less effective than others at preventing any symptoms, it was 85% effective at preventing severe illness and 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after individuals were vaccinated.

The other good news is that J&J was tested in countries known to have potentially more dangerous variants, including Brazil and South Africa. The data found the vaccine worked against all variants at preventing severe disease.

J&J reported that in cases of breakthrough infection, when someone who has been vaccinated still becomes infected with the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 were more mild than in participants who received the placebo.

On Wednesday, the company published a preliminary analysis suggesting its vaccine can help prevent asymptomatic infections, but the FDA concluded there is not yet enough data to say for sure if the J&J vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection.

The agency also said it’s not yet clear how long protection lasts.

No serious safety concerns were reported in the clinical trials.

Participants in the clinical trial who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed similar side effects to other vaccines, including pain at the injection site and some people with reports of fatigue, headache, or fever. Fevers were reported the day of or the day after receiving the injection and lasted one day for most people who experienced them.

There were no cases of anaphylaxis reported in the clinical trial but Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for the vaccine group at Janssen, said the company received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one with anaphylaxis.

Douoguih said the company will continue to monitor those events and any other reactions closely.

Overall, allergic reactions have not been common and are usually temporary.

It could show up at your local pharmacy.

The J&J vaccine is expected to be distributed much as the other vaccines — spread out evenly across the states, major cities and other “jurisdictions” like federal agencies. States will still determine who is eligible to be vaccinated and when the process will be opened to additional groups.

But if authorized, this vaccine would be the first to likely target the more general population. When Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in December, the focus was still on health care workers and nursing homes.

The J&J vaccine will likely be used to expand supply for local pharmacies and mass vaccination sites. In most states, priority is now being given to older Americans living independently, people with severe health risks and essential workers, like teachers.

An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists voted unanimously to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, a step closer to making a third COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans.

The recommendation paves the way for official emergency authorization by the FDA, allowing the vaccine to be provided to Americans while the company continues to study it. If that happens Friday night or over the weekend, some 4 million doses would be expected to start shipping as early as Monday.

“If the FDA [authorizes] the use of this new vaccine, we would plan to roll out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make the vaccine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

The federal government will still determine how many doses are delivered to each state and states will determine which populations are eligible to be vaccinated based on available supply.

Anthony Fauci, one of the top infectious disease doctors in the country and a senior advisor to the White House on COVID-19 response, said he’s looking forward to the FDA review of the J&J vaccine but suggested its authorization is a foregone conclusion.

“We now have three highly effective vaccines. Importantly, each of them are very effective against severe disease and virtually all have them say that you look at the data and it’s clear that you get essentially no hospitalizations, or deaths. And this is very good news,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

Here’s what to know:

The vaccine requires only one shot, with 20 million doses due before April.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot for the recipient to be considered fully immunized. The vaccine also can be stored in a refrigerator, making it relatively easy to handle.

While 4 million doses would ship out initially, the company says it’s on track to produce 20 million doses by the end of March. Along with Pfizer and Moderna doses, that means the U.S. would have enough vaccine doses for 130 million adults — about half the adult population — to be vaccinated.

By the end of June, J&J is expected to have produced 100 million vaccine doses. That would put the U.S. in a position of having a surplus by mid-summer, when Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have delivered enough vaccine to immunize 300 million people.

Officials caution, though, that it will take time to get shots in arms.

The J&J vaccine is for adults only, at least initially.

Vaccine makers are looking at whether their products would be safe and effective in children, but that will take some time. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicts vaccines could be offered to teens as early as fall and younger children in early 2022 after clinical trials are done.

For now, since J&J’s clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people looked only at adults, the vaccine would be restricted to people 18 and older. While the vaccine was found to be slightly less effective than others at preventing any symptoms, it was 85% effective at preventing severe illness and 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after individuals were vaccinated.

The other good news is that J&J was tested in countries known to have potentially more dangerous variants, including Brazil and South Africa. The data found the vaccine worked against all variants at preventing severe disease.

J&J reported that in cases of breakthrough infection, when someone who has been vaccinated still becomes infected with the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 were more mild than in participants who received the placebo.

On Wednesday, the company published a preliminary analysis suggesting its vaccine can help prevent asymptomatic infections, but the FDA concluded there is not yet enough data to say for sure if the J&J vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection.

The agency also said it’s not yet clear how long protection lasts.

No serious safety concerns were reported in the clinical trials.

Participants in the clinical trial who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed similar side effects to other vaccines, including pain at the injection site and some people with reports of fatigue, headache, or fever. Fevers were reported the day of or the day after receiving the injection and lasted one day for most people who experienced them.

There were no cases of anaphylaxis reported in the clinical trial but Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for the vaccine group at Janssen, said the company received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one with anaphylaxis.

Douoguih said the company will continue to monitor those events and any other reactions closely.

Overall, allergic reactions have not been common and are usually temporary.

It could show up at your local pharmacy.

The J&J vaccine is expected to be distributed much as the other vaccines — spread out evenly across the states, major cities and other “jurisdictions” like federal agencies. States will still determine who is eligible to be vaccinated and when the process will be opened to additional groups.

But if authorized, this vaccine would be the first to likely target the more general population. When Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in December, the focus was still on health care workers and nursing homes.

The J&J vaccine will likely be used to expand supply for local pharmacies and mass vaccination sites. In most states, priority is now being given to older Americans living independently, people with severe health risks and essential workers, like teachers.

RIO DE JANEIRO and LONDON — It’s been days since Alejandra heard from her son.

The 42-year-old mother has been one of many gathered outside a large prison in Guayaquil, a port city on Ecuador‘s southern coast, where dozens of inmates were killed Tuesday in a riot.

“I cannot stop thinking my son is dead,” said Alejandra, who asked ABC News not to use her last name or her son’s name for fear of retaliation.

Alejandra said her 26-year-old son was being held in pre-trial detention for a petty crime and that he has a court appearance scheduled for next year. She said she received a telephone call from him on Tuesday, when the violence erupted. He told her, “I am afraid to die.”

Clashes broke out at the Guayaquil prison and three others across Ecuador between rival drug gangs trying “to seize the criminal leadership of the detention centers,” according to Gen. Edmundo Moncayo, head of Ecuador’s prison system, known by its Spanish-language acronym SNAI.

Moncayo told reporters during a press conference Tuesday that the violence was precipitated by a break in leadership of a prominent local gang called Los Choneros, whose leader was assassinated in December at a shopping mall in the port city of Manta on Ecuador’s central coast.

Fernando Carrion, a research professor at FLACSO Ecuador, a postgraduate institution in Quito, told ABC News that revenge was expected but not to this level. He said Los Choneros is linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and that, although Ecuador does not produce drugs, criminal gangs use the South American country to transport drugs and launder money.

“We have never seen such a cruel mutiny,” Carrion told ABC News. “It absolutely has never happened before in the history of Ecuador, and this is only the beginning. I believe it was an earthquake and now we will have the aftershocks.”

Moncayo told reporters that a search for weapons was carried out at the Guayaquil prison on Monday, after officials were tipped off by Ecuador’s national police force that inmates had two firearms smuggled to them by a guard and were planning to kill Los Choneros leaders. That search sparked a series of coordinated, simultaneous mutinies at four prisons in three different provinces the following morning, and it wasn’t until the afternoon that authorities regained control, according to Moncayo.

Carrion told ABC News that the deadly riots prove what little power Ecuadorian authorities actually wield inside prisons ever since the country’s principal intelligence agency, known by its Spanish-language acronym SENAIN, was shut down in 2018.

“For criminal groups, reaching this level of efficiency and planning is truly showing the problems of prison systems and lack of institutionalization,” he said.

Videos recorded by inmates and shared on social media showed beheaded and mutilated corpses in the aftermath of the bloodbath.

“These attacks were not only a tragedy, but criminal groups were sending clear messages to other groups,” Carrion told ABC News. “We are talking about bodies dismembered — this is a way to communicate.”

The number of dead has continued to rise in the days since. As of Friday, the death toll from the riots was 81, while 20 others remained injured, according to the National Police of Ecuador. Authorities have yet to release the names of those killed or wounded.

“As soon as I heard the news, I went straight to the prison,” Alejandra told ABC News. “When I arrived, many women were already there on their knees, crying, praying.”

Alejandra, who lives in Guayaquil and makes a lower-middle-class wage working in an office, said she was forced to go back to work Friday after spending two days outside the prison with other families of inmates.

“I am constantly thinking of my son,” she said. “I would like to be with other mothers in front of the jail.”

Alejandra is among those calling on authorities to identify the dead and wounded so they can know whether their loved ones survived the attacks.

“This is not too much to ask,” she said. “They don’t want to tell us anything.”

An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists voted unanimously to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, a step closer to making a third COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans.

The recommendation paves the way for official emergency authorization by the FDA, allowing the vaccine to be provided to Americans while the company continues to study it. If that happens Friday night or over the weekend, some 4 million doses would be expected to start shipping as early as Monday.

“If the FDA [authorizes] the use of this new vaccine, we would plan to roll out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make the vaccine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

The federal government will still determine how many doses are delivered to each state and states will determine which populations are eligible to be vaccinated based on available supply.

Anthony Fauci, one of the top infectious disease doctors in the country and a senior advisor to the White House on COVID-19 response, said he’s looking forward to the FDA review of the J&J vaccine but suggested its authorization is a foregone conclusion.

“We now have three highly effective vaccines. Importantly, each of them are very effective against severe disease and virtually all have them say that you look at the data and it’s clear that you get essentially no hospitalizations, or deaths. And this is very good news,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

Here’s what to know:

The vaccine requires only one shot, with 20 million doses due before April.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot for the recipient to be considered fully immunized. The vaccine also can be stored in a refrigerator, making it relatively easy to handle.

While 4 million doses would ship out initially, the company says it’s on track to produce 20 million doses by the end of March. Along with Pfizer and Moderna doses, that means the U.S. would have enough vaccine doses for 130 million adults — about half the adult population — to be vaccinated.

By the end of June, J&J is expected to have produced 100 million vaccine doses. That would put the U.S. in a position of having a surplus by mid-summer, when Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have delivered enough vaccine to immunize 300 million people.

Officials caution, though, that it will take time to get shots in arms.

The J&J vaccine is for adults only, at least initially.

Vaccine makers are looking at whether their products would be safe and effective in children, but that will take some time. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicts vaccines could be offered to teens as early as fall and younger children in early 2022 after clinical trials are done.

For now, since J&J’s clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people looked only at adults, the vaccine would be restricted to people 18 and older. While the vaccine was found to be slightly less effective than others at preventing any symptoms, it was 85% effective at preventing severe illness and 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after individuals were vaccinated.

The other good news is that J&J was tested in countries known to have potentially more dangerous variants, including Brazil and South Africa. The data found the vaccine worked against all variants at preventing severe disease.

J&J reported that in cases of breakthrough infection, when someone who has been vaccinated still becomes infected with the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 were more mild than in participants who received the placebo.

On Wednesday, the company published a preliminary analysis suggesting its vaccine can help prevent asymptomatic infections, but the FDA concluded there is not yet enough data to say for sure if the J&J vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection.

The agency also said it’s not yet clear how long protection lasts.

No serious safety concerns were reported in the clinical trials.

Participants in the clinical trial who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed similar side effects to other vaccines, including pain at the injection site and some people with reports of fatigue, headache, or fever. Fevers were reported the day of or the day after receiving the injection and lasted one day for most people who experienced them.

There were no cases of anaphylaxis reported in the clinical trial but Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for the vaccine group at Janssen, said the company received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one with anaphylaxis.

Douoguih said the company will continue to monitor those events and any other reactions closely.

Overall, allergic reactions have not been common and are usually temporary.

It could show up at your local pharmacy.

The J&J vaccine is expected to be distributed much as the other vaccines — spread out evenly across the states, major cities and other “jurisdictions” like federal agencies. States will still determine who is eligible to be vaccinated and when the process will be opened to additional groups.

But if authorized, this vaccine would be the first to likely target the more general population. When Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in December, the focus was still on health care workers and nursing homes.

The J&J vaccine will likely be used to expand supply for local pharmacies and mass vaccination sites. In most states, priority is now being given to older Americans living independently, people with severe health risks and essential workers, like teachers.

An independent advisory panel of infectious disease experts, doctors and scientists voted unanimously to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, a step closer to making a third COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans.

The recommendation paves the way for official emergency authorization by the FDA, allowing the vaccine to be provided to Americans while the company continues to study it. If that happens Friday night or over the weekend, some 4 million doses would be expected to start shipping as early as Monday.

“If the FDA [authorizes] the use of this new vaccine, we would plan to roll out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make the vaccine,” President Joe Biden said Thursday.

The federal government will still determine how many doses are delivered to each state and states will determine which populations are eligible to be vaccinated based on available supply.

Anthony Fauci, one of the top infectious disease doctors in the country and a senior advisor to the White House on COVID-19 response, said he’s looking forward to the FDA review of the J&J vaccine but suggested its authorization is a foregone conclusion.

“We now have three highly effective vaccines. Importantly, each of them are very effective against severe disease and virtually all have them say that you look at the data and it’s clear that you get essentially no hospitalizations, or deaths. And this is very good news,” he said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.

Here’s what to know:

The vaccine requires only one shot, with 20 million doses due before April.

Unlike Pfizer and Moderna, the vaccine developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, only requires one shot for the recipient to be considered fully immunized. The vaccine also can be stored in a refrigerator, making it relatively easy to handle.

While 4 million doses would ship out initially, the company says it’s on track to produce 20 million doses by the end of March. Along with Pfizer and Moderna doses, that means the U.S. would have enough vaccine doses for 130 million adults — about half the adult population — to be vaccinated.

By the end of June, J&J is expected to have produced 100 million vaccine doses. That would put the U.S. in a position of having a surplus by mid-summer, when Pfizer and Moderna are expected to have delivered enough vaccine to immunize 300 million people.

Officials caution, though, that it will take time to get shots in arms.

The J&J vaccine is for adults only, at least initially.

Vaccine makers are looking at whether their products would be safe and effective in children, but that will take some time. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicts vaccines could be offered to teens as early as fall and younger children in early 2022 after clinical trials are done.

For now, since J&J’s clinical trial involving more than 44,000 people looked only at adults, the vaccine would be restricted to people 18 and older. While the vaccine was found to be slightly less effective than others at preventing any symptoms, it was 85% effective at preventing severe illness and 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths 28 days after individuals were vaccinated.

The other good news is that J&J was tested in countries known to have potentially more dangerous variants, including Brazil and South Africa. The data found the vaccine worked against all variants at preventing severe disease.

J&J reported that in cases of breakthrough infection, when someone who has been vaccinated still becomes infected with the virus, symptoms of COVID-19 were more mild than in participants who received the placebo.

On Wednesday, the company published a preliminary analysis suggesting its vaccine can help prevent asymptomatic infections, but the FDA concluded there is not yet enough data to say for sure if the J&J vaccine protects against asymptomatic infection.

The agency also said it’s not yet clear how long protection lasts.

No serious safety concerns were reported in the clinical trials.

Participants in the clinical trial who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine showed similar side effects to other vaccines, including pain at the injection site and some people with reports of fatigue, headache, or fever. Fevers were reported the day of or the day after receiving the injection and lasted one day for most people who experienced them.

There were no cases of anaphylaxis reported in the clinical trial but Macaya Douoguih, head of clinical development for the vaccine group at Janssen, said the company received preliminary reports of two cases of severe allergic reactions, including one with anaphylaxis.

Douoguih said the company will continue to monitor those events and any other reactions closely.

Overall, allergic reactions have not been common and are usually temporary.

It could show up at your local pharmacy.

The J&J vaccine is expected to be distributed much as the other vaccines — spread out evenly across the states, major cities and other “jurisdictions” like federal agencies. States will still determine who is eligible to be vaccinated and when the process will be opened to additional groups.

But if authorized, this vaccine would be the first to likely target the more general population. When Pfizer and Moderna were authorized in December, the focus was still on health care workers and nursing homes.

The J&J vaccine will likely be used to expand supply for local pharmacies and mass vaccination sites. In most states, priority is now being given to older Americans living independently, people with severe health risks and essential workers, like teachers.