Coronavirus news for March 25, 2021

The Social Security Administration has responded to a 24-hour deadline set by lawmakers that will help clear the way for about 30 million people to receive $1,400 stimulus checks.

The agency transferred the payment files to the IRS on Thursday morning. Prior to that, the stimulus checks had been blocked because the IRS did not have the necessary information, according to a statement from Democratic leaders on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Four lawmakers on that committee — including Chair Richard Neal, D-Mass., as well as Reps. John Larson, D-Conn.; Bill Pascrell, Jr., D-N.J.; and Danny Davis, D-Ill. — had called for the Social Security Administration to transfer the information.

In a statement, the leaders blamed Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul for the delays, which “defied congressional intent and imposed needless anxiety and pain on taxpayers.”

“Now the IRS needs to do its job and get these overdue payments out to suffering Americans,” the leaders said. “Further delays will not be tolerated by this committee.”

Saul refuted the lawmakers’ claims. He said in a statement the SSA began working with the IRS as soon as it could. Moreover, the payment information delivered to the IRS was more than a week earlier than it was for the first round of stimulus payments.

“Social Security employees have literally worked day and night with IRS staff to ensure that the electronic files of Social Security and SSI recipients are complete, accurate, and ready to be used to issue payments,” Saul said.

“There is no one more committed to serving the public than the employees of this agency … I find any insinuation to the contrary to be unacceptable,” he added.

— Lorie Konish

Amazon is launching on-site vaccination clinics at warehouses across three states, the company announced Thursday.

The first clinic is opening Thursday at a warehouse in Missouri and more clinics will open at facilities in Nevada and Kansas in the coming weeks. At the clinics, which are expected to run for about five days, vaccines will be administered to employees by licensed health-care providers.

Amazon expects to launch clinics at additional warehouses in the U.S. as more vaccine supply becomes available to front-line employees in other states. Some of Amazon’s frontline workers have already been vaccinated in states where they’re eligible.

The move comes as the U.S. continues to pick up the pace of vaccinations, with the nation administering more than 2.5 million shots per day.

— Annie Palmer

North Carolina will allow all adult residents to sign up for a Covid-19 vaccine beginning April 7, Gov. Roy Cooper said in a tweet.

The governor also announced that the state will open vaccine eligibility to essential workers in “commercial services such as hospitality and retail, chemical and pharmaceutical facilities, construction, housing and real estate and other essential sectors,” beginning March 31.

“We’ve been faster and have gotten more supply than we had anticipated, and that’s fantastic,” Cooper said in a tweet.

— Noah Higgins-Dunn

Rutgers University said it will require students returning to campus this fall to prove they’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19, becoming one of the first institutions in the U.S. to mandate the immunizations.

Requiring students to get vaccinated against the disease will allow Rutgers to resume a wide range of activities and will allow for an “expedited return to pre-pandemic normal,” Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway said in a statement.

Students who are fully enrolled in online courses without access to on-campus facilities will be exempt from the mandate, according to the statement, as well as those with medical or religious reasons that prohibit immunization.

—Noah Higgins-Dunn

California will open its Covid-19 vaccine eligibility to everyone aged 16 and older beginning on April 15, according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.

Residents aged 50 and older will be able to register for an appointment starting April 1.

California currently receives roughly 1.8 million doses per week from the federal government. That figure is expected to grow to more than 3 million by late April, the statement said.

More than 10.5 million California residents have received at least one vaccine dose so far — roughly 26% of the population,…